Security Response Section

[3] Unlike regular police officers, the unit has enhanced tactical skills and operational equipment including combat helmets, ballistic vests and long-arm weapons such as semi-automatic rifles.

[5] On launching the SRS, Minister for Police Corey Wingard stated: “Extremists throughout the world are increasingly seeking to inspire like-minded individuals to their repugnant way of thinking and South Australia is not immune to that.

[7] In March 2024 it was announced that the SRS would be a part of an increased presence in Rundle Mall shopping precinct to deter shoplifters following a series of violent incidents.

[7] After announcing the SRS unit, the police received public backlash including an online petition amid fears of an American-style gun culture.

[14][15] The timing of the establishment has also been criticised in relation to the Black Lives Matter movement and the murder of George Floyd just two months prior, drawing concerns about the role of the police and deadly force used against BIPOC communities[16][17] Author and critic Ben Brooker has been outspoken about the SRS, stating: the problem we have now is a sort of a Maslows Hammer problem, the idea that to a man with a hammer everything looks like a nail.

[15] Gill Hicks, AM MBE FRSA, founder of the London-based not-for-profit M.A.D for Peace reflected on Security Response Section to the Adelaide Podcast with the statmenet:I think at a time when people are suffering from the threat of an untreatably deadly virus of great uncertainty in life, work, finances, the last thing the public psyche needs is an added heavy edition.