South Australia has its full complement of police officers for the first time in nearly a decade, as the Malinauskas Labor Government launches a new recruitment ad campaign to boost the state's police force even further.
South Australia Police will reach the authorised Police Establishment level this week, following record investment in police resources by the Malinauskas Labor Government, reaffirming South Australia as having the highest number of sworn police per capita of any state.
This marks a significant improvement from September 2023, when the shortfall stood at 227 FTEs.
The Malinauskas Government is investing an additional $172 million over six years to further grow our police force to 5,000 - adding an additional 326 sworn officers.
This is in addition to an extra $29 million invested to recruit an extra 98 Police Security Officers (PSOs). PSOs perform roles currently undertaken by sworn officers and the additional hires enables sworn officers to be redirected back to frontline operations.
Today, 28 international police officers are being sworn in with a further 22 local cadets being sworn in on Thursday taking South Australia's frontline policing capability to 4,674.2 strong.
This is a major milestone and follows a massive recruitment drive by SAPOL with the support of the Malinauskas Government over the past three years. It strengthens frontline policing capacity and visibility across metropolitan and regional South Australia to enhance overall community safety.
It is the first time since 2018 that SAPOL has been at establishment level with more than 800 officers sworn in since 2023.
Today, new officers are joining SAPOL from the United Kingdom, New Zealand and for the first time, Canada.
The State Government's determination to boost our police force is being further strengthened with the launch of a new ad as part of SAPOL's refreshed campaign Career Search: Find Where You Belong in Blue to let more people know about the benefits of a career with SA Police.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens features in the ad, which will run throughout 2026 and beyond to raise awareness of policing careers. The ad campaign video can be viewed here.
As put by Peter Malinauskas
We are investing significantly to boost our police force to keep South Australians safe. For the first time in nearly a decade, South Australia has its full complement of police officers, which is a major milestone.
We have the highest number of sworn police per capita of any state and our recruitment drive is gearing up even further with the launch of a new ad campaign to put even more officers on the beat.
I'm incredibly thankful for the work our police officers do every day often in difficult circumstances to keep our community safe and I warmly welcome the new recruits coming on board to do such an important job.
As put by Michael Brown
Reaching establishment level is a major milestone for SA Police and is testament to the incredible recruitment effort over the past three years.
The Malinauskas Government has made record investment to boost SAPOL's resources with more than 800 police officers sworn in since 2023 and we continue to see the results of that with the rate of crime continuing to drop across the state.
I'd like to welcome our new recruits and thank them for their commitment to serving the people of South Australia as well as congratulate the Police Commissioner and SAPOL for their relentless recruitment efforts.
