Acting Deputy Commissioner Scott Duval says police attrition rates contributing to state’s crime spike
SA Police ramp up its overseas recruiting campaign as a senior officer says cops abandoning the force is contributing to a spike in crime.
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A high police attrition rate is contributing to a spike in crime across South Australia, one of the state’s top cops says, as new statistics show an increase in serious crimes.
Acting Deputy Commissioner Scott Duval on Tuesday said SA Police’s shortfall of 176 out of 4498 sworn officers as of December 1 played a part in increased crime including theft, robbery and assault.
“I think it contributes to it,” Mr Duval said.
Mr Duval said the 5.7 per cent attrition rate was higher than previous years because of an increased number of resignations in recent years, with many officers being lured into other careers.
The latest SA Police crime statistics show theft from shops increased by 30 per cent from September 2022 to September 2023, while assaults on police increased by 36 per cent and serious assaults resulting in injury increased by 16 per cent.
Overall, robbery and other related offences jumped by 27 per cent and offences against a person increased by 20 per cent.
Murder increased by 18 per cent in the year.
“You will always have variations in crime, but we understand our crime figures,” Mr Duval said.
“Our police that are out there on the streets are doing a fantastic job and where we position those police is all based on intelligence.”
Mr Duval said a number of factors including rising cost of living and other community factors also contributed to the spike.
He said discussions were constantly had to explore retention as well as recruitment.
“We certainly do have a recruiting program that is facing some challenges,” he said.
“But it’s very much about balancing the type of talent we’re looking for to make sure what we produce at the end of it is very professional, experienced police officers.”
It comes as Police Minister Joe Szakacs announced the number of police officers sworn in during 2023 had almost doubled compared with last year.
Mr Szakacs said 230 cadets had been sworn in as officers compared with 121 in 2022.
He said SA Police’s shortfall had decreased from about 230 officers to the current figure since the state government announced a police funding boost in this year’s budget.
It forms part of the state government’s commitment to recruit 900 new police cadets in the next three years.
Opposition police spokesman Sam Telfer said the state government’s efforts to attract new recruits had been too slow.
“Peter Malinauskas and Joe Szakacs are failing when it comes to keeping South Australians safe by properly attracting and retaining frontline police,” Mr Telfer said.
SA Police will also ramp up its campaign to recruit overseas officers after federal Immigration Minister Andrew Giles approved a labour agreement to attract police from the United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand.
The overseas officers will be required to have a minimum of three years policing experience.
“We think we’ve got the balance right between a rapid increase in numbers and supporting great local jobs for local South Australians who aspire to be police,” Mr Szakacs said.
Mr Szakacs expected the first of up to 200 overseas recruits to be sworn in as SA Police officers will be next year.
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