SAPOL provides general duties policing, highway patrol, criminal investigation and emergency coordination services throughout the state.

At this time, SAPOL consisted of one Superintendent, two Inspectors, three Sergeants and 47 Constables divided into foot and mounted sections.

[4] This included reprisals following the Maria massacre where O'Halloran was sent out with instructions by Governor Gawler to execute "any number, not exceeding three" of the Aboriginal people identified to be involved.

[7] Cocks retired in 1935, and was the officer in charge of the largest female detachment of all Australian state police departments of 14, which was double the size of the next-nearest of New South Wales.

[9] This included travels to the jurisdictions of Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States of America, and New Zealand.

Under an emergency declaration, the commissioner has extraordinary authority to create rules and regulations that may be enforced by police, for a limited time.

Due to these laws, Commissioner Grant Stevens became a central figure in South Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Services are the largest units, and are headed by a sworn assistant commissioner, or for areas which are not policing specific, such as information technology, a civilian Director.

A brevet sergeant is the second in charge of a team and it can be a temporary designation for an officer in a particular position which would require specialised skills, such as a detective.

A senior sergeant is the officer in charge of a section, including traffic, criminal investigation, and operations (uniform), and traditionally does more administrative work than active patrol duties.

Baseball caps are worn in specialist areas, including STAR Group, Crime Scene, State Traffic Enforcement Section, and by Operational Safety Trainers.

Specialised units such as Special Tasks and Rescue (STAR Group) use other equipment suited to the nature of their duties.

[38] Thousands of SAPOL legacy firearms have been traded in with manufacturer Smith & Wesson to sell on the second-hand gun market in USA.

[39] [40] Australia (along with Uganda and Namibia) is one of few countries which has not declared a policy of preferential destruction of surplus weapons.

[39] Allowing South Australian Police firearms to be sold in second-hand markets overseas has been criticised as unethical by victims groups for its potential contribution to gun violence in USA.

Since the phasing out of the Holden Commodore SAPOL has recently switched to the Kia Sorento and Toyota RAV 4 as general duties vehicles.

In remote country areas, Toyota Land Cruisers and Troop Carriers are used as primary patrol vehicles.

SAPOL have also, in previous years, used high performance vehicles such as Holden's SS Commodore for traffic operations.

[citation needed] SAPOL utilise specialised Vehicles which are used in a wide variety of ways, for example, as a mobile police station/unit at a large public function, or as forward command posts at search and rescues, or other incidents such as siege or hostage situations.

[47] The SAPOL Water Operations Unit uses a number of watercraft including boats and Jet Skis to police coastal and inland waterways.

[48][49] For ceremonial activities, crowd control and patrol duties, the SAPOL Mounted Operations Unit use grey horses.

The CDP is broken down into five phases, which includes training at the Police Academy and field experience at metropolitan LSAs.

During recruit training, non-officers (police staff and volunteers) assist with various duties, such as cadet assessment, role playing and general administration.

[citation needed] Cadets graduate with the rank of probationary constable and are subject to a 15-month period of on-the-job training.

Upon completion of the probationary period, officers receive a Diploma of Public Safety (Policing) and are appointed to the rank of Constable.

At 0400 hours (4am) on Tuesday 10 December 2002, SAPOL officially switched from standard 64 UHF channels to the SA Government Radio Network (SAGRN).

This utilised digital encrypted radio transmissions, meaning that scanners could not listen to police communications.

[58] In 1994, a bombing at the National Crime Authority Adelaide offices killed Western Australian Police Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Bowen and severely injured others.

[59][60] During the 2016 South Australian blackout, SAPOL Commissioner Grant Stevens declared a major incident under the Emergency Management Act 2004.

Police returned fire, resulting in the perpetrator, a 26 year old male, receiving life-threatening gunshot wounds.