SA Libs blast 'shocking' police reforms

Some Adelaide police stations will be open less often than post offices under a proposed overhaul of South Australia's force, the state opposition says.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens plans to close one suburban station, slash opening hours for nine others and reduce the overall ratio of station officers to civilians from 5:1 to 1:1.

Mr Stevens says the changes, which also include replacing almost 60 intelligence officers with civilians, will free up more police for frontline duties and improve response times.

But Opposition Leader Steven Marshall has labelled the reforms "shocking" and blames budget cuts.

"The (yet to be opened) station at Henley Beach is going to have fewer opening hours than the local Australia Post," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"The government has invested a lot of money into the development of the foreshore ... there's a massive increase in the numbers of people coming.

"Unfortunately, the police station's going to be closing after 5 o'clock any night of the week and completely closed the entire weekend."

Police Minister Peter Malinauskas said the changes were about productivity, not cost cutting.

"Closing police stations is never something that a politician wants to see but that's exactly why you don't want politicians making these decisions," he said.

Mr Stevens said the way people reported crime had changed and that it wasn't good enough to maintain the status quo.

"People who require police assistance more often than not pick up the phone ... and my commitment is when people need police, they will get police," he told 5AA radio.

SA's Police Association has met with Mr Stevens to voice objections to the overhaul.

President Mark Carroll said there were no "justifiable reasons" to replace intelligence officers with civilians.

He also feared some officers cut from desk jobs would not go to the frontline but disappear from the force altogether.