South Australian Police have been given extra powers to search and expel people from Glenelg during the busy summer season. They say it's necessary to curb "low level crime" and insist it's not an overreach of power.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Glenelg is one of South Australia's top summer destinations.
00:06The beach and rides, a family drawcard during the day.
00:09At night, a different crowd.
00:12Some people when they drink too much alcohol, you know, don't behave to the appropriate
00:16standards.
00:17So general disorderly behaviour, might be some offensive language, relatively low level
00:22type of offending.
00:24The declaration of a public precinct, which comes into effect today, gives officers more
00:28power to deal with antisocial behaviour.
00:31And they'll be enforced from 3pm to 3am every weekend, from Friday to Monday morning.
00:37The powers include the option to ban a person, or remove children behaving in a disorderly
00:42manner.
00:43Officers can order a group to leave, and they can also carry out drug and weapon searches.
00:47It enables police to undertake metal detector searches of any person or their property in
00:54their possession, within the declared public precinct.
00:58The area spans from the waterfront and square, right back to Brighton Road.
01:02The added police powers are something many business owners support.
01:06Saying that while the area is family friendly during the day, it does sometimes get rowdy
01:11by night.
01:12It's not too bad, but I mean any extra surveillance or police would be always welcomed.
01:17We definitely see lots of trouble, lots of trouble walking past.
01:21We only have one person working at a time, so you know, you're on your own, so you want
01:24to know that it's safe down here.
01:26And despite the low-level crime, police say the powers are necessary, and are only a trial.
01:31It's certainly not police overreach, it's additional tools that we know that it's been
01:37working well in the Adelaide CBD.
01:39Glenelg is the third public precinct to be declared in the state, following Adelaide
01:43CBD and the rural town of Port Augusta.