It is an offence to hinder or resist a police officer in the execution of the officer's duty [Summary Offences Act 1953 (SA) s 6]. The maximum penalty is a fine of $2,500 or imprisonment for 6 months [s 6(2)]. The sentencing court may also order the offender to pay compensation to the victim [s 6(3)].

The scope of a police officer's duty has been widely interpreted by the courts. Police officers must take all lawful steps that seem necessary to them for keeping the peace, preventing crime, and protecting people or property from criminal injury or damage. This applies whether the officer is rostered for work or not.

However, where the police officer's actions are outside of that duty, or the officer acts illegally, a charge under this section cannot succeed. For example, a police officer who uses more force than is reasonably necessary to arrest a suspect is not acting in the execution of their duty.

Hinder includes any disturbance, obstruction or interference that makes a police officer's duty more difficult to perform. It includes, but is not limited, to physical obstruction. For example, a person who deliberately stands in the way of police officers or who argues with them when they are trying to arrest another person may be guilty of the offence of hindering police.

Unlike hinder, resist requires actual physical resistance. Simply not doing what a police officer asks, or arguing about it, does not mean that a person resists. However, the physical resistance need not necessarily be an assault; the action of pulling away from an officer's grasp, for example, may be enough.

Sometimes there can be no clear distinction between assaulting, hindering and resisting. These charges are often laid in situations where there is fighting and confusion and are used by the police to remove people from the area and to restore order. Hindering is often charged when a third person intervenes in an arrest of a person. Resist, on the other hand, is often charged when someone resists a lawful arrest.