MICHAEL OWEN
Adelaide
Advertiser
Friday, December 22, 2006
UNMANNED closed-circuit television camera spy planes and trucks
with hidden cameras are among options canvassed in a top secret
report into security coverage in Adelaide.
The report, considered by a top-level State Government and Adelaide
City Council committee, is part of Premier Mike Rann's post-London
bombing plan to improve CCTV coverage in the city centre. One
Capital City Committee member, who wished to remain anonymous,
said the report included options for "more coverage and different
ways of surveillance, like trucks and unmanned planes and so on".
"It was an enormous report and the dollars being talked
about to fund it was amazing," the committee member said.
"You'd think we were terrorist target No. 1."
Police Minister Paul Holloway, one of the State Government's
three representatives on the committee, said the Government would
consider the recommendations contained in the report.
He said security was being boosted by a restructure of the Police
Security Services branch, the introduction of Protective Security
Officers and the installation of CCTV cameras across the public
transport system.
"We have also introduced the Police Powers (Prevention and
Response to Terrorism) Act, which gives the Police Commissioner,
in concurrence with the Minister for Police, authorisation to
use additional extraordinary powers for a defined period in the
event of a terrorist incident or threat," he said.
Committee members were forced to hand back copies of the extensive
report, after it was "flicked through" by chairwoman
Jane Lomax-Smith, the Minister for the City of Adelaide.
"The report is quite amazing," the committee member
said.
Mr Holloway said a meeting in London with Detective Inspector
James Stokley, in charge of piecing together thousands of hours
of CCTV footage after the London bombings, highlighted the importance
of a high-quality CCTV network.
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