Minister for Police and Emergency Services Mick Gentleman recently unveiled a new industrial shredder at the ACT Policing Exhibit Management Centre in Mitchell. The shredder – funded by the ACT Government as part of the 2015/16 Budget – will streamline the process of destroying firearms, drug grow-house equipment, exhibits no longer required for court, and other items that need to be destroyed under court order. Minister Gentlemen said the shredder was purchased after an officer at the Exhibit Management Centre (EMC) highlighted inefficiencies and safety issues in the previous manual processes followed by police.
“Prior to the installation of this shredder, on a good day one ACT Policing officer could maybe destroy 50 firearms. This machine can easily do that many in less than ten minutes,” Minister Gentleman commented “In addition, by removing the use of manually-operated cutting tools and hammers, the destruction process will be carried out with greater safety and there will be flow-on savings in maintenance. It gives me great satisfaction as Minister to be able to provide our police officers with this equipment which they not only need, but which will make it easier for them to better serve the Canberra community.”
The industrial shredder has been installed at the ACT Policing Exhibit Management Centre in Mitchell and has the capacity to destroy 95 per cent of property identified for destruction, including firearms. The use of the shredder will free up many hours of police time that was previously expended on the manual destruction of these items, using potentially dangerous tools such as plasma cutters and large hammers. ACT Policing will also experience considerable savings when disposing of items after destruction. The need for secure burial will be greatly reduced, due to the more comprehensive destruction the shredder can perform, compared to what an officer could do by hand.