Community safety body’s role unclear: Burns
Police Commissioner Gary Burns says he still doesn’t know what the State Government’s Community Safety Directorate actually is or does, a year after it was announced.
The Directorate was established by the State Government to bring together the state’s emergency services.
“I still haven’t got a handle around what the Community Safety Directorate actually is,” Burns told a parliamentary committee this morning.
“I’m still not sure whether there is a difference between it [the Directorate] and SAFECOM.”
The South Australian Fire and Emergency Commission (SAFECOM) co-ordinates the activities of the CFS, SES and metropolitan fire brigade.
Burns said he had concerns when the Directorate was announced that it may duplicate existing services and “add confusion to an otherwise good system”.
“But there are instances where we can always improve our communication in an operational sense.”
Burns said the operations of the Directorate so far had had no impact on his role.
Announcing the new Directorate in August last year, then-Minister for Police Jennifer Rankine said it would coordinate a broad range of agencies, including police, correctional services and emergency services.
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“The Directorate will further assist our ability to plan, respond and recover from a wide range of safety issues such as fires, natural disasters, crime and offender management and road safety – while building community resilience,” Rankine said at the time.
“The establishment of the Directorate further demonstrates this Government is continually working towards making South Australia safe – and improving feelings of safety in the community.”
The Directorate is headed by a former deputy to Burns, Tony Harrison. When he was appointed he also became head of SAFECOM, bumping then-head David Place down a peg to deputy director.
Harrison was hand-picked by the Minister to head the program, it emerged today.
Outside Parliament, Premier Jay Weatherill defended the Directorate, saying it was a key part of his plan to improve community safety. “It’s a very broad portfolio, which is now pushing into community safety at the level of the streets.”
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