A manager of the South Australia Police force has come under fire after it was revealed that he offered a $30 Coles Myer Gift Card to the patrol officer who issued the most traffic and speeding fines over a five-day period.
The gift card incentive was sent around in an email leading up to Operational Fatal Distraction — a one-week safety campaign targetting inattentive drivers. SAPOL has since retracted the email, admitting that the use of incentive goes against official policy.
“The incentive offered was a gift card purchased by the manager from their own funds,” SAPOL shared in a statement. “Such a practice is not SAPOL policy and is not permitted. The email instruction has been recalled and SAPOL staff have been advised that the advice in the email is not to be actioned and is contrary to SAPOL’s policy and practices.”
The incident will now be subject to an official internal review.
“[It] just sends the wrong message to road users, I’m really disappointed to hear this,” SA Police Minister Corey Wingard shared with ABC. “We want to make sure that people are safe on our roads but this is not a competition for SAPOL… It’s not about revenue raising, this is making sure we change behaviour on the roads to make sure people are safe.
“It’s not acceptable and South Australians don’t accept that behaviour.”
