John De Candia, Who Implemented the Failed District Policing Model, is Appointed Assistant Police Commissioner
New assistant commissioner John De Candia trying to look like an evil villain - and succeeding.
As with most government agencies, ascending the ranks at SAPOL has nothing to do with talent, efficiency, honesty and certainly not intelligence.
It has everything to do with how eagerly you toe the line and kiss the right butt cheeks.
SAPOL commissioner Grant Stevens recently announced the appointment of yet another assistant commissioner of police. The latest addition to Stevens’ inner circle of derriere smoochers is John De Candia, who the SAPOL announcement describes as “One of South Australia’s most experienced police officers”.
The announcement tells us the heartwarming tale of how De Candia joined the thoroughly corrupt SAPOL “as a cadet in 1989 and worked general patrols in the metropolitan area and Port Pirie before joining the CIB and working in areas including Port Adelaide and Adelaide CIB and the Organised Crime Task Force.”
This “veteran of 36 years in SA Police”, says the announcement, “is currently SAPOL’s longest-serving Chief Superintendent.”
It says he has managed the Anti-Corruption Branch (which is clearly failing in its stated mission), Drug Investigation Branch, Crime Training Section and Organised Crime Investigation Branch. He commanded the Crime Gangs Task Force, Investigation Support Branch and the Eastern Adelaide Local Service Area as a Superintendent.
What the announcement mysteriously fails to mention when listing off De Candia’s ‘achievements’ is that Johnny boy was instrumental in implementing the failed and widely-hated District Policing Model (DPM), which turned an already bad SAPOL into a complete joke that has allowed crime rates to skyrocket.
In 2022, De Candia won an ‘Australian Police Medal (APM)’ for his role in imposing the DPM, which shows you what a complete toss these awards are.
The DPM is widely acknowledged by everyone except Grant Stevens and his team of overpaid ass-kissers as a total failure.
As we recently reported, almost three-quarters (68%) of SAPOL cops say community safety is worse now than a decade ago – and many pointed to the controversial District Policing Model as the reason.
A recent report found only 65-75% of required emergency response times are being met at SAPOL. Only 70% of investigations are meeting their timeframes, with approximately 100 investigations taking over 100 days to complete. Officers complain of being overwhelmed by paperwork and bureaucracy, creating significant backlogs in police work.
This is why De Candia’s role in implementing Stevens’ toxic DPM was conveniently left out of the SAPOL announcement.
De Candia and Stevens, by virtue of implementing the DPM and stubbornly defending it long after it proved to be a total failure, are themselves total failures. In the private sector, total failures don’t get promoted to the highest positions within an organization. They get fired or demoted to menial duties.
De Candia and Stevens are totally unfit to even serve as patrol cops, let alone run an entire police force.
After 42-year-old husband and father-of-two Gaurav Kundi was fatally assaulted by SAPOL thugs on Thursday, May 29, both Stevens and De Candia declared the officers had done nothing wrong – while simultaneously admitting they were not privy to the full details of the incident!
“Without having a look at all the body-worn video from all the different angles, it’s a little bit difficult to make an assessment without looking at all the evidence,” said De Candia.
“However, I can say that from that evidence I’ve looked at that from that body-worn video, but it is only one portion, I’m comfortable.”
Grant the Clown, meanwhile, told the media that after watching vision from just one of the officer’s body camera, he believed they acted “in line with their training.” He said this before investigations into the matter had even begun, thereby signalling what the predictable outcome of those investigations would be.
This was a most unprofessional spectacle in which two of South Australia’s highest-ranking cops admitted they had only seen a small portion of the evidence, yet declaring they were happy with the conduct of the officers whose violent actions resulted in an innocent husband and father being fatally assaulted.
This was by no means the end of the insanity. While happy to exonerate his officers, Grant the Clown simultaneously urged the public to await the outcome of the (rigged) police and government inquiries before passing judgement.
As Justice Matters stated:
“Stevens had no right whatsoever to pass judgment before an inquiry had been held and all of the facts had been considered, which Stevens himself later confirmed when he said the public should await the outcome of the police inquiry. So Stevens expects the public to wait but it’s okay for him to pass judgment. That’s right, Steven’s comments could be viewed as an attempt by him to influence the outcome of the inquiry which is an attempt to pervert the course of justice. And he shouldn’t just be sacked. He should answer to the courts the same as anybody else.”
The Clown and the Candy Man are a disgrace and totally unfit to be heading a police force.
