Liberal leader Steven Marshall's law and order to cut paperwork SA Opposition Leader Steven Marshall. POLICE will focus more on ensuring people are safe rather than wasting time filling out complicated paperwork if the Opposition wins next year's state election. In his first major speech outlining how a Liberal Government would support police, Opposition Leader Steven Marshall will today address the Police Association with a plan that promises more beat officers, less time behind desks, investing in IT systems and simplifying criminal legislation. But he admitted a Liberal Government would "not have much money to spend," blaming the current State Government's economic mismanagement and a crippling police budget. In response, Attorney-General John Rau said Mr Marshall had "no plan and no ideas" for police reform. Speaking exclusively to The Advertiser, Mr Marshall said the Opposition would work to create efficiencies and reforms rather than cutting numbers to save money, to get more police out into the community. However, he said he would not release specific policy details until closer to the March election. "It (community safety) will be a major focus for us," Mr Marshall said. We just believe that policing now is becoming more and more about paperwork rather than about community safety and policing, which is what people (officers) signed up to do. Our real worry is that because arrests are such complicated processes now, we don't want to be in the situation where police officers say `well, it's too hard to arrest somebody because of the paperwork so I will go to a lesser response to a crime'. Earlier this year, Police Association president Mark Carroll criticised the heavy impact on police workloads from the 33 items of legislative change introduced by the State Government. In a column written for The Advertiser in March, Mr Carroll said increasing protocols and responsibilities kept police off the beat for thousands of hours every year. Since he was appointed last July, Police Commissioner Gary Burns has repeatedly reaffirmed his intentions to confront the challenge of budget cuts by cutting red tape and paperwork, and making sure police are more visible on the beat. Mr Rau defended the Government's performance on law and order. He said that while Labor had contributed to a 40 per cent reduction in victim-reported crime since being elected, police numbers had dropped and many police stations had closed as victim-reported crime rose to record levels under the Liberals. "Not a single suggestion put forward by Mr Marshall today will make SA a safer place to live," he said. Again, no detail and no explanation of how a Liberal Government would achieve any reform. Steven Marshall has no plan and no ideas. He is the Dennis Denuto (the dithering lawyer from iconic Aussie film The Castle) of state politics - no details, just a `vibe'.