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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Thursday, 24 June 2004) . . Page.. 2649 ..

A significant drop in burglaries has occurred in the last couple of years. This has been consistent with the successful deployment of Operation Halite and other operations that have followed it. That is a typical “taskforce” targeted police deployment. The Labor government says they are concerned with the state of police numbers in the ACT, but we have not seen this transformed into constructive action. Must I remind the Labor government of their 2001 election promise? It said:

Labor will implement a program to restore the number of police officers available to at least the national average.

Furthermore, their policy stated:

If Canberrans are to feel safe and secure, the police must win the fight against crime. They must have the necessary resources and leadership and the broader community has to be involved in the development and implementation of initiatives aimed at effective crime prevention. Labor will provide the commitment needed for the police to do their job.

Their election promise also stated:

Labor’s plan will be to enhance foot patrols and bike patrols.

It sounds terrific on paper. It is a shame they have failed to deliver on these election promises, as they have on so many others. Let me discuss the absence of staff at Canberra police stations to answer the phones when members of the community call for help or information and, in some cases, the understaffing of police stations, which does not allow already busy police to answer the phone. The Labor government has accepted this lack of service by transferring all calls to police stations to the call centre on 131444. This means that no-one in the Canberra community has telephone access to their local police station either for assistance or for information.

The minister for police has said before in the chamber that people should call 131444 for assistance, but what if they need information or advice about something relative to a crime or a security matter? The Labor government has simply removed the Canberra community’s telephone access to their local police stations, instead of solving the problem through positive and value-adding solutions such as having more police officers available to serve the community.

Let us talk about the mounted police saga—the recently disbanded mounted police unit. This is an example that the government is not giving to the community; they are taking away from them. Canberra’s mounted police unit comprised two mounted police officers and horses. Originally established by the former government, there were plans to develop this unit to six officers and six horses. Unfortunately, when the Labor Party took government the mounted police force—or really the entire ACT police force—had no chance.

People noticed the presence of the mounted police force on the streets of Canberra. They engaged with and interacted with children and youths and forged positive relationships in the community. This was a stark example of community policing. That is what community policing means: it is two-way communication; it is getting out there in the

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