Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Assistant Commissioner of Regional and Remote Policing Martin Dole says extra officers will remain in Alice Springs until January to keep crime at bay

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Assistant Commissioner of Regional and Remote Policing Martin Dole says extra officers will remain in Alice Springs until January to keep crime at bay · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Now, if you joined us on the show on Friday,
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  Speaker 1: you would have heard the Police Commissioner confirming that police
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: recruits are going to be sent to Central Australia in
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  Speaker 1: an effort to keep things under control over the summer period.
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  Speaker 1: It follows that surge of more than forty officers just
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  Speaker 1: weeks ago. And joining me on the line to tell
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  Speaker 1: us more about the situation is the Assistant Commissioner of
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  Speaker 1: Regional and Remote Policing, Martin Dole.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you. Good morning, Katie, Assistant Commissioner.
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  Speaker 1: How many officers are going to be heading to Alice
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  Speaker 1: Springs or have they arrived yet?
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  Speaker 3: So it depends what you're talking about with numbers, Katie.
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  Speaker 3: We've got fourteen new officers arriving permanently in Oura Springs
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  Speaker 3: on Monday, so that's twelve new recruits that have recently
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  Speaker 3: graduated and two new Aboriginal Community Police officers. But our
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  Speaker 3: numbers of temporary staff that we're maintaining in Central Australia
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  Speaker 3: for Operation Drina are also continuing. So they've been coming
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  Speaker 3: and going since the twenty fourth of November and we're
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  Speaker 3: going to continue to have in in preest assets here
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  Speaker 3: in Central Australia right over the Christmas period to the
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  Speaker 3: end of January.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Right, So with the forty five officers that had
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  Speaker 1: initially been surged in, what's the situation with them now?
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  Speaker 2: How's that working with Operation Drina?
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  Speaker 3: So, like I said, so since the twenty fourth of November,
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  Speaker 3: we've had sometimes in excess of forty five extra offices here.
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  Speaker 3: So we've pulled the Commissioner of Police as directed that
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  Speaker 3: we pull resources from a number of areas to support
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  Speaker 3: Central Australia and Operation Drina. So at times we've had
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  Speaker 3: in excess of that forty five that was initially announced
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  Speaker 3: right at the beginning on the twenty fourth of November.
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  Speaker 3: So numbers are a hard game because every day we've
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  Speaker 3: got officers coming and going. But we're going to continue
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  Speaker 3: increase resourcing here right till the end of January to
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  Speaker 3: continue the great work that Operation Drina's doing and delivering well.
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  Speaker 1: And it looks as though it has had some pretty
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  Speaker 1: good results. Talk us through some of you know what
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  Speaker 1: you've seen as a result of those additional officers being
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  Speaker 1: there and that surge in in resourcing.
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  Speaker 3: So for the last two days in Ala Springs, we've
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  Speaker 3: had zero unlorful entries reported to US, So zero unlofful
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  Speaker 3: entries is a significant impact for Alice Springs. We've been
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  Speaker 3: plagued with property chrome for months now, so zero unlufful
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  Speaker 3: entries is a great result. Some of the results that
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  Speaker 3: Operation Drina has had since commencing operations on the twenty
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  Speaker 3: four to November, We've made over one hundred arrests of
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  Speaker 3: offenders in the area of operation. We've handed out one
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  Speaker 3: hundred and fifty seven traffic infringement notices, we've handed out
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  Speaker 3: forty five summary infringent notices, and we've tipped out nearly
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  Speaker 3: nine hundred liters of alcohol being drunk in a public
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  Speaker 3: place in contravention of the Liquor Act.
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  Speaker 2: Nine hundred liters, did you say so?
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  Speaker 3: Eight hundred and ninety two to be specific. That was
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  Speaker 3: our stats on Monday, So I haven't updated the last
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  Speaker 3: two days, but yeah, nearly nine hundred liters of alcohol
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  Speaker 3: been consumed in a public place in contravention of the
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  Speaker 3: Liquor Act.
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  Speaker 2: That's pretty unbelievable.
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  Speaker 3: It's huge figures, but you know, taking action destroying that alcohol.
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  Speaker 3: We've also taken four hundred and seventy three people into
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  Speaker 3: protective custody over that period, and that's people that are
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  Speaker 3: intoxicated in a public place that aren't capable of caring
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  Speaker 3: for themselves, and that's had a significant impact on any
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  Speaker 3: social behavior that we've been seeing in the central business
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  Speaker 3: district of Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I bet it has.
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  Speaker 1: When you talk about so, did you say four hundred
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  Speaker 1: and seventy three people taken into protective.
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  Speaker 2: Custody, that's correct, Yes, And where like is that.
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  Speaker 1: Being taken to the watchhouse or is there a you know,
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  Speaker 1: is there a facility where they can go to sober up.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, So that's a combination of all of the places
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  Speaker 3: that we can take people into protective custody. So that's
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  Speaker 3: the watchhouse, the shelters. So we've got a drug and
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  Speaker 3: alcohol shelter here which is DAFFA. We've also got people
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  Speaker 3: we can convey to the hospital if they're so intoxicated
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  Speaker 3: that we concern about the health and that includes people
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  Speaker 3: that are conveyed home as well.
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  Speaker 2: Assistant Commissioner.
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  Speaker 1: Look, I know you can't get into the politic ex
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  Speaker 1: SciTE of things, but when you look at the number
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  Speaker 1: of leaders that have been tipped out of mean eight
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  Speaker 1: hundred and ninety two leaders was the latest figure from Monday,
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  Speaker 1: the fact that four hundred and seventy three people have
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  Speaker 1: been taken into protective custody as a result of you know,
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  Speaker 1: of alcohol issues by the sounds of it, or in
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  Speaker 1: contravention I think you said of the alcohol liquor requirements
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  Speaker 1: in Central Australia. I mean, does that demonstrate to you
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  Speaker 1: that there has been a change since the ending of
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  Speaker 1: that stronger Futures legislation or is that sort of too
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  Speaker 1: difficult to tell.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I think that the fact is, and the truth is, Katie,
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  Speaker 3: that we've had a problem in this town with alcohol
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  Speaker 3: consumption for a very long time. Of course, we have
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  Speaker 3: seen some increases since the lifting of Stronger Futures, and
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  Speaker 3: that was always going to be the case. In the interim,
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  Speaker 3: I think, you know, we're coming up to the six
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  Speaker 3: month mark now where we've been keeping statistics, So it'll
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  Speaker 3: be interesting to have a look at the six month
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  Speaker 3: assessment of all of those factors and actually see how
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  Speaker 3: much it has impacted our business. But yeah, there's no
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  Speaker 3: doubt that there is more alcohol flowing into the community
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  Speaker 3: and it's causing issues.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll be really interested to see how it does
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  Speaker 1: look at the end of that six month period, Assistant Commissioner,
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  Speaker 1: I know that you've said that obviously you've had to
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  Speaker 1: draw in some of those resources from other areas to
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  Speaker 1: make sure that you know that you're able to deal
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  Speaker 1: with what was going on in Alice Springs. Has that
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  Speaker 1: had an impact on some of the more remote communities, So.
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  Speaker 3: No specific incidences where we haven't been able to provide
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  Speaker 3: policing services. So the Commissioner of Police was pretty clear
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  Speaker 3: we had to draw resources from where we could get them,
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  Speaker 3: but we also had to be able to make sure
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  Speaker 3: that we could maintain service delivery to the areas that
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  Speaker 3: were needed. So we didn't take anybody from areas where
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  Speaker 3: we weren't able to respond in a timely manner if
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  Speaker 3: something happened on those communities.
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  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner, some of those figures, you know, they're quite
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  Speaker 1: astronomical when you look at the impact that having that
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  Speaker 1: surge of police into Alice Springs has had. I know
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  Speaker 1: there's going to be a lot of people listening this
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  Speaker 1: morning thinking why didn't it happens sooner?
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  Speaker 3: I think resourcing is always a balancing game, Katie. Of course,
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  Speaker 3: the people of Elder Springs needed a circuit breaker. We
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  Speaker 3: were always planning an operation for this time of the
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  Speaker 3: year in Central Australia because historically this school holiday the
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  Speaker 3: Christmas period we see an influx of people to Central
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  Speaker 3: Australia from the outlying areas, so we were always planning it.
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  Speaker 3: We just bought it on a little bit early because
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  Speaker 3: of the really horrific crime rates that we were seeing occurring.
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  Speaker 1: I know that we've heard this morning that one of
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  Speaker 1: the popular local pubs, Montes, they're planning to close their doors,
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  Speaker 1: telling the ABC that people don't feel safe going out
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  Speaker 1: at night.
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  Speaker 2: What is your response to that, Well, I think.
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  Speaker 3: We've changed that perception and certainly that's what I've seen
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  Speaker 3: in the last seventeen days since Drina has been operating,
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  Speaker 3: in the feedback that we're getting and our girls and
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  Speaker 3: girls on the street that it's a really positive engagement
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  Speaker 3: having the police on the street, having our area of
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  Speaker 3: operations in the Central Business district and people are feeling
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  Speaker 3: safe and secure, and that's the feedback we're getting on
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  Speaker 3: the ground from members of the public.
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  Speaker 1: Katie, And do you think that this surge and also
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  Speaker 1: those additional officers that are going to be permanently based
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  Speaker 1: in Alice. Do you think that that's going to sort
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  Speaker 1: of help some of the community members and also those
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  Speaker 1: business owners to feel safer longer term?
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  Speaker 3: I think it is. It's already shown that's happening, and
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  Speaker 3: we're concentrating erifforts on keeping people safe and providing that
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  Speaker 3: community reassurance and making sure that people are able to
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  Speaker 3: go out and enjoy this beautiful town.
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  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner are a question that's come through from one
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  Speaker 1: of our listeners wondering why can't they get people before
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  Speaker 1: that point of sale, you know, when you're talking about
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  Speaker 1: that nearly nine hundred liters of alcohol. Is there a
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  Speaker 1: way that you know that they can sort of be
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  Speaker 1: stopped from purchasing before it gets to that point.
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  Speaker 3: I think that's a really that's a really difficult question, Katie.
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  Speaker 3: Alcohol is a legal product. The lifting of stronger futures
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  Speaker 3: saw the alcohol become available to a whole different range
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  Speaker 3: of people now, so there's no restrictions on the premises
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  Speaker 3: in which you can buy alcohol from. In less the
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  Speaker 3: communities opted in and down this way, we didn't see
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  Speaker 3: a lot of people opting in in relation to the
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  Speaker 3: access of our cohols. So it's not simply a matter
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  Speaker 3: that we can just prevent somebody from buying what is
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  Speaker 3: a legally available commodity.
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  Speaker 1: Well Assistant Commissioner Regional and Remote Policing, Martin Dole, We
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  Speaker 1: always appreciate your time. I appreciate you coming on and
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  Speaker 1: having a chat with us this morning, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: I think ahead of Christmas, particularly in light of what's
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  Speaker 1: gone on in Queensland in recent days as well. A
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  Speaker 1: big thank you to all of the Northern Territory Police
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  Speaker 1: for the work that you do. I know that the
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  Speaker 1: community appreciates it and I think that it's very much,
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  Speaker 1: you know, something that we need to be a need
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  Speaker 1: to be thanking you guys for for your hard work.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Katie, thank you very much
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for your time this morning,