South Australia's police union is calling for an overhaul of the state's policing model, amid growing concerns about a lack of staff to respond to crime.
Police Association of South Australia president Mark Carroll said there is not enough staff for the district policing model to work effectively.
"For more than 12 months now we have been telling commissioner Grant Stevens that his district policing model is failing," he told ABC Radio Adelaide.
Mr Carroll said the model breaks officers into two groups, with one group responsible for responding to calls for assistance and the other larger group tasked with tracking down offenders, targeting crime spots and trying to reduce crime.
"It's very labour intensive ... we just don't have enough people on the ground to do that and we never have had," he said.
He said officers are "burnt out" and want the teams to be combined.
"They are all uniform officers they should not be split up," Mr Carroll said.
"This is what members of the ground with decades of experience are telling us."
'We are struggling to maintain numbers'
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the district policing model had not been properly tested yet as its second stage was implemented four days before the emergency declaration for COVID-19 came into action in March 2020.
The declaration resulted in hundreds of police officers being deployed from their regular roles to COVID-related duties.
Commissioner Stevens said it was not an appropriate time for the model to be quashed.
"For it to be properly assessed and for anyone to suggest that it's failed first requires for it to be properly implemented and to do that we need people.
"We are getting to the point where we don't have police officers on COVID roles anymore but we are still impacted by COVID.
"We are struggling like every other police force in Australia to recruit sufficient people to keep up with attrition."
The union has also called for the state's police recruiting system to be reviewed.
Mr Carroll said SA Police needed to recruit 90 officers, with another 120 regularly off-duty due to COVID.
Commissioner Stevens said SA Police was doing what it could to try and recruit more people to fill positions.
"That's just a harsh reality that we are all dealing with," he said.
"We are struggling to maintain numbers and we are looking at the reasons for that."
Delegates from the union are planning to meet on Wednesday to further discuss the matter.
Shadow Police Minister Tim Whetstone said the police shortages coincided with an "enormous jump" in crime, with more than 5,100 extra crimes committed during April.
"We are seeing crime rates jump in South Australia, but Labor isn't boosting SAPOL's resources to match that concerning trend," he said.
Mr Whetstone said the government had cut $23.6 million from the budget to retain more than 168 protective security officers (PSOs) past next year.
"We see a double whammy with less security officers, less police officers, and now [with the lost] … opportunity with three cancelled cadet intakes, we are going to see a critical shortage of police on our streets," he said.
But Police Minister Joe Szakacs said the PSO recruitment was a temporary boost provided during the pandemic.
"What this government is undertaking is a much more forward-looking body of work regarding police resourcing," he said.
"A premier's task force is being convened. This is an election commitment we are delivering that will be hearing from police and experts regarding resourcing — not just for this term of government, but for the next two, three and four years.
"The protective service officers is an option that we are looking at."
"We will have recommendations out of the premier's task force well and truly before those contracts are up."
