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Katie Woolf spoke with NT Police Commander Matt Hollamby · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining me live in the studio is Darwin Commander Matt
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: hollandb with the Territory Police.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Goodbarding.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: Matt, Goodbarding, Katie, and good morning to your listeners.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Now we will talk about crime stats in a couple
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: of moments, but I understand that the Northern.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Territory Police had quite a busy weekend.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: You're out targeting people who are on the road who'd
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: been drinking.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: How did it go?
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Look, Katie?
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: We announced Operation Roland last Thursday, which is our Christmas
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: holiday road safety campaign. That's a territory wide campaign. But
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: in terms of Darwin, on Friday night, we had a
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: number of significant random breath testing sites. We tested a
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: total of seventeen hundred people for drink driving and fifty
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: one for drug driving. Sadly, there was a woman who's
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: been issued with a notice to appear for driving under
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: the influence of amphilamines and there was fifteen people that
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: tested positive for drink driving, So it's a bit sad.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: You know. We alerted the public that were we were
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: going to do it, and some people obviously just didn't listen.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: I just don't understand why it's so hard for people
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: to not get behind the wheel after they've been drinking.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Were those readings high or how were they?
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Look?
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Most of them were actually quite low. It's you know,
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: the people who had a few drinks after work type scenario.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: But there was one person that was arrested with a
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: reading of point two zero six. Wow, So that's ridiculous.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: That's ridiculously high. And you know, I think we probably
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: saved a significant crash on the night I reckon.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, when you arrest somebody who's got such a
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: high reading, are they quite visibly intoxicated?
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Look, it depends CADI, It depends on the person's tolerance.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: You know, people like yourself and myself, I'd probably be
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: unconscious at point to point two, you know, the readings
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: you know up around the point three. You basically have
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: to be a chronic alcoholic to reach that level.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: It's quite unbelievable. That's what I thought to myself. You know,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: I can't I can't even imagine reading being that high.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and look, you know, I will say that nine
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: of the readings were low range. That's low range has
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: been between point zero five and point zero eight. And yeah,
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: they are the people that just had one too many
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: after after work and got caught.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: And just that reminder really for those people, for all
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: of us, because I guess that's certainly much easier to
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: do to have one too many, you know, I guess
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: it's a good reminder for us to either get a taxi,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: have a you know, have a sober ball, or call
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: you know, get an uber. Yeah.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. And look, you know, nearly fifty percent of our
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: fatal crashes are caused by drink driving. It's a causal factor.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: And I think you know, if if you seriously hurt
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: or killed one of your family members or another member
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: of the public whilst driving under the influence of alcohol
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: or drugs, it's going to ruin your life forever. And
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: you know, we've had thirty people die in our roads
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: this year and Christmas, we know it was a time
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: of celebration, and we just asked people to be sensible
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: and don't drink and drive.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Now we also know that Northern Territory Police had to
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: issue one driver a notice to appear and seized another
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: driver's vehicle after a honing incident in the city on
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the weekend. As I understand that police were conducting foot
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: patrols on kitchen A Drive when a holden commodore was
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: observed honing before losing control, crashing into the curb. As
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: police approached, the driver attempted to take off before reversing
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: into one of the officers.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Is that officer okay.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the officer is okay. He's got bruising, fairly substantial
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: bruising to his leg. You know, this is just a
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: honing incident by young people that were being idiots, and yeah,
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: it hurt somebody in the process and now they're going
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: to have to suffer the consequences.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: What's so lucky that that police officer is actually okay
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: with something like that happening, isn't it. Yeah?
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, I think he's in good spirits. You know, he
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: obviously are going to be a bit sore for a
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: day or two. But you know, sometimes the difference between
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: not crashing and having a fatal crash can be millimeters
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: or milliseconds, so very very important to bear that in
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: mind on our roads.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Now, Commander, we know that the crime stats
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: were released late on Friday, and by the look of things,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: I've had a bit of a look through Darwin, both
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Darwin and Palmerston, and we know that Palmerston includes the
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Greater Darwin region or the rural area. It does seem
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: as though things like house breakings, commercial break ins and
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: motor vehicle theft.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Are on the decline.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, we've had quite big increases in things like alcohol
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: related assault and domestic violence. I mean, do you think
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: I guess statistics are always a bit difficult because they
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: are a snapshot in time. But is that your sense
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: on the ground at the moment. Are things sort of
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: starting to quieten down a little bit when you talk
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: about those home break ins and that or is it
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: not really the.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Look Katie, These these statistics are twelve months, a snapshot
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: of twelve months compared to the previous twelve months, and
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: you know, sometimes it really it more depends on what
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: happened eighteen months ago than what happened today. So but
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: having said that, we've had we had a good run
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: of six months of very very you know, record low
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: crime rates.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: That was during COVID.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: Was that during COVID? Yeah, but you know, year on
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: a year it's down. But in terms of the here
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: and now, there has been some spikes and with you know,
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: our Springs is probably the most notable one. But you
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: know there was a spike in the rural area for
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: a short period of time, and Coroma and Malac. I've
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: obviously got a lot of attention of late. But you know,
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: statistically crime is down. Some people will say, oh, yeah, whatever,
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: but you know, the fear of crime and the perceptions
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: of crime are really important as well as you'd appreciate.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: So you know, we we probably need to do some
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: more work in that space.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, when you talk about the rural area and Karama
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: and Malac, how are things going? I know that there
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: was that public meeting obviously in Karama and Malak.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: How are things going with those areas?
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, Karama and Malac in terms of house breakings,
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: they weren't that. You know, any crime is bad, but
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: house breakings weren't as high as people thought. What was
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: most noticeable was the smashing of indiscriminate smashing of windows,
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: you know, property damage, and it was you know, if
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: you're a victim, you don't want to hear this, but
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: it was nuisance crime of predominantly children doing stupid things.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, how do you sort of stop that? Because I
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: know it's so hard for people that live in those areas.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: I know, if I lived there, and I was worried
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: that my home was going to be the windows smashed
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: or whatever.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: It's hard if you're at home.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: With little kids, and while it's nuisance crime, it feels
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: really unsafe.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and look, as I say, I don't mean to
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: downplay it in any way. If you're the victim of
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: that crime, it's not a nuisance, it's really bad. But yeah,
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: we're working with territory families. We've obviously got our youth
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: operation that's going over the Christmas holiday period. Still it's
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: not just a youth crime operation, it's a youth engagement
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: operation as well. Territory families have a big, big role
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: to play.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, last time you and I spoke, I know that
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: you'd said that there were some nights where your officers
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: were having to drop some people home, you know, several times,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: some of those young people home several times in a night.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Has that improved much?
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: Look, I think it has, But for some of the
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: more encourageable kids, it was a bit of a game
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: where you go home and you jump the back fence
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: just as the police leave, and so yeah, it is
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: a bit of a game. But again it's about reassuring
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: the community that not every child that you see on
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: the street is a criminal. You know, some of them
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: are committing dumb crimes, stupid crimes. Yeah, but you know,
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: if your children are walking down the street, you don't
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: want people looking at them thinking that they're criminals. So
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: it's not always the case. Well, you know, Carima and Malac,
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of young people living in those suburbs
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: and we engage with them as best we can.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Matt, can I just ask very quickly just back
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: to those crime stats because I know that domestic violence
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: is something that there has been an operation that's been
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: launched in recent days from the crime stats, and I
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: know that, like we said, it is a bit of
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: a snapshot in time, but there does seem to be
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: a real increase in that domestic violence. Is that sort
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: of I mean, does that relate to that COVID lockdown
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: as well?
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Do you think?
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: Look, I think it does in part. But you know,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: the awareness of domestic violence is you know, we do
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: a lot of work in terms of a tizing that
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: you know, domestic violence is not on So it might
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: be that you know, there might be a more reporting,
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: which is a positive. But having said that, domestic violence
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: reports are going up. That's really really sad, and I
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: don't really think it gets enough airtime in terms of
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: you know, people are solding their own family members, which
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: is which is pretty sad, really it is.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: It's terrible.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: It's a terrible situation and it seems to be something
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: that we've got a real issue with in the territory.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: I know how police are certainly trying to focus on it. Yeah.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, And look, Christmas is a time for family, but
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: it can also be a stressful time for families that
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: aren't doing well or they're struggling, whether it's financially or
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: or for other reasons. So it can exacerbate family issues.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: But we you know, we ask it to be a
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: happy time and a good time for for families. And
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: you know, if if if you get worked up, just
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: take a walk. It's assaulting. Is assaulting a family member
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: is never on It's never It's never acceptable.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: No, Absolutely, well, Commander Matt Hollanby, we are going to
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: have to leave it there. Thank you very much for
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: your time this morning. All the best, hope you have
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: a lovely Christmas and to all your.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Team as well.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: Always a pleasure, Katie, and have a merry Christmas to
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: you and to all of your listeners as well.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, thank you. We'll talk to you again in
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: the new year, all
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Right, have a good one you too,