Interview with South Australian Police Commissioner Mal Hyde
5AN radio, Adelaide
5 May 1998
Presenter... Julia Lester...and a very special welcome to our 5AN and local ABC this morning to Police Commissioner, Mal Hyde. Commissioner Good morning, thank you very much for taking the time today.
Hyde... My pleasure, Julia...
Lester... Jeff, good morning to you.
Caller... Jeff - good morning Julia
And ..and sir, I refer to page eleven today..of today's Advertiser where a young lad who wanted to wear a specific pair of shoes and had been harrassed before was...was arrested by police when some people stood over him and he pulled out a can of what it says in the paper is mace...
Hyde... And, as the magistrate pointed out, the young lad could easily have had the mace taken off him and been used against him, and,..and that's the problem with some of these defences raised in...the public arena.
Lester... Is that the same question, Mal Hyde, about carrying a gun for safety that might be used against you?
Hyde... Yes, quite right, yes, and...you've only got to look to the US to see how bad that is, where everyone carries handguns and the murder rate in the US is just phenomenal.
Lester... Would you go for even tighter policing on...on gun control?
Hyde... It all depends. I think there's a case to be made for sporting and recreational shooters, but the simple fact is the fewer guns in the community, the fewer opportunities for things to go wrong with guns. And we've seen, for instance, since legislation was tightened up on firearms, the suicide rate with firearms has dropped remarkably.
Lester... And that's fact, is it?
Hyde... That is a fact, yes.
Lester... Thats hasn't been covered much, interesting.
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