Industrial

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Steve Whetton Assistant Secretary Police Association

INDUSTRIAL

District policing model a major fail

The inadequacies of the SAPOL district policing model are now well known. The model has failed to live up to public expectation and compromised the workplace safety of front-line police officers.

In its advocacy for those officers, the Police Association has continually engaged with SAPOL.

In a letter to the association in May, SAPOL conceded that the strength of a response team was down 60 per cent. It asserted, however, that the relevant patrol sergeant was “responsible” for allocating patrols and had the option to move staff on that shift from another police station.

That assertion glosses over organizational responsibility.

In its letter, SAPOL conceded that, in some instances, demand for police services had outstripped its response capacity. But SAPOL refuses to attribute this failure to the DPM.

In a letter to the association in June, SAPOL indicated that: • Since 2016, population growth had driven an increase in police demand, with calls for police assistance increasing by around 20,000 per year over the same period. • Responding to complex issues, such as mental health, also consumed police resources (between 2017 and 2021, for example, a 59.6 per cent increase occurred in mental-health taskings, each averaging six hours and 33 minutes). • The police establishment has not increased since Recruit 313 while the SA population has continued to grow by an average of 12,000 per year. The model does not – and cannot – provide sufficient resources, address members’ work health and safety issues, or meet the demand for services which continuously exceeds capacity.

• SAPOL is currently 90 below its recruiting target. • The transmission of COVID-19 created staffing pressures for SAPOL owing to absences.

SAPOL contends that it has not yet been able to run the DPM as intended because of the burden of its response to COVID-19. But its contention comes in the knowledge of chronic staff shortages and members’ multiple sacrifices over the past two-and-a-half years.

COVID-19 remains in the Australian community. It also remains a SAPOL go-to excuse which becomes ever more flimsy.

The DPM was a failure well before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Western Australia Police Force implemented a similar model in 2014. Chris Dawson axed it in 2017 after his appointment as WA police commissioner.

The association has continuously lobbied the SA government and, as per the state budget outcomes (2022), the government has agreed to form a premier’s task force. It will be the purpose of the task force to review the recruitment of sworn police officers and police security officers over the next 10 to 15 years and make recommendations on increasing the numbers.

The association lobbying follows the Recruit 313 campaign of 2016 when the government provided SAPOL with $4.1 million to fast-track recruiting. The idea was to achieve a level of 4,713 active, sworn, full-time equivalent police by June 30, 2018.

The association achieved a strategic outcome for SAPOL.

At an emergency delegates meeting on June 22, 2022, I provided samples of written remarks received from frontline officers. Their exact words were: • “We are at a ‘breaking point’ which has resulted in an increase in members taking sick leave, requests for transfers from DPT and increased negativity. ” • “We are not providing any kind of decent service to the public. ” • “The disparity in work/responsibility/ work life balance and stress is more than significant. ” • “Don’t care what anyone says there is no way to fix the numbers in MOS in the short to medium term – couple this with the expected 700+ that will be retiring in the next three years – think it’s a perfect storm now!” • “Sensible rostering is the only way to address morale and staffing shortfalls across MOS; it is essential for the retention of good, experienced people, their welfare and their quality of life. ” • “Our good people are walking out the door to jobs that are flexible and family friendly – they are not tied to the old pension. ”

SAPOL must now adhere to its corporate risk management framework if it is to identify, analyse and evaluate the risks.

Under general orders is a risk management framework which reflects the international risk management standard in the Australian/New Zealand Standard (AS/NZ ISO) 31000:2018.

The order stipulates that employees are responsible for identifying risks to SAPOL’s core business and contributing to the reduction of those risks.

Wade Burns Deputy President Police Association

INDUSTRIAL

Members to benefit from expert review

No task is impossible simply because of the challenge it presents. In fact, with challenges come opportunities. This is overwhelmingly clear to me after 25 years in policing.

Individuals and organizations choose how to respond to challenges. In the ones that are difficult, they can see opportunities or, in the opportunities, see only difficulty.

Challenges abound in the modern business environment of today. They are far greater and more complex and confront organizations more often than ever before, according to the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

AICD publications indicate that organizations, particularly their directors, face such challenges as climate change, environmental and social responsibility, sustainability, use of technology, organizational trust, and governance.

The publications also indicate how organizations are best placed to operate at peak performance in a dynamic and rapidly changing environment.

A robust environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy is increasingly important. So, too, is the way in which a mature, well-founded strategic approach can assist businesses to overcome critical issues and enhance their ability to continuously improve.

The Police Association is no different. It is not immune from business challenges. Nor is it impervious to a changing external environment. It does not exist in a bubble.

The association exists to protect members, create a stronger future, and deliver the best outcomes for members. Organizational designs often have a use-by date, particularly if the structure served a strategy whose time had passed. Arrangements for managing, doing and delivering work need to adapt to reflect evolving conditions, strategies and priorities.

Critical, therefore, is for the association to be always relevant to its members. And self-reflection is a key component to individual and organizational growth.

The Police Association provides important services to its nearly 5,000 members. So, it has to be certain that its operations reflect today’s best-practice ways of working.

We have to ensure that contemporary structures – insofar as people, processes, and technologies – underpin our strategic pillars, as defined in the Police Association Strategic Plan 2022-2025.

With the 2021 election of the new committee of management came a commitment to undertake an independent external review of the association’s business operations.

Accordingly, the association has engaged the expert services of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to conduct a root-and-branch review.

The association aims to reposition itself strategically to ensure it can react and adapt to changes in the current business environment and deliver on the objectives of the strategic plan.

PwC will conduct its review focused on the corporate and functional key pillars of governance, organization, business process, technologies, and people and behaviour.

This will enable PwC to assess the capability of the association to deliver on its 2022-2025 strategy (and beyond) and its agility in responding to change and accommodating continuous improvement.

Harvard Business School professor Alfred Chandler identified in the 1970s that “unless structure follows strategy, inefficiency results”.

In a modern business context, the phrase “strategy before structure” has become a business mantra that has stood the test of time.

Organizational designs often have a use-by date, particularly if the structure served a strategy whose time had passed. Arrangements for managing, doing and delivering work need to adapt to reflect evolving conditions, strategies and priorities.

After the review, PwC will provide insights that incorporate best-practice methodology.

The Police Association welcomes the research, assessment and problemsolving which are the strength of the PwC review. The outcome will be compelling recommendations to address issues and capitalize on opportunities.