Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke to Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker about how police are responding to the opening of borders, mandate protesters, and NT crime
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Now we do know that the COVID situation is ever
- 0:03Speaker 1: evolving and today of course is going to be critical
- 0:05Speaker 1: for the people of Central Australia and indeed the Barclay.
- 0:08Speaker 2: We'll find out a little bit later.
- 0:09Speaker 1: This afternoon if those lockdowns are going to end or
- 0:13Speaker 1: be extended. But joining me in the studio is the
- 0:16Speaker 1: Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker.
- 0:18Speaker 2: Good morning to you. Good morning, Commissioner.
- 0:20Speaker 1: I know it's been a very busy time and we
- 0:22Speaker 1: are expecting an update later today on that COVID situation.
- 0:26Speaker 1: But how are the officers going in Central Australia and
- 0:29Speaker 1: indeed the community of Ali Kurung and Tenant Creek.
- 0:32Speaker 3: At the moment, we've got in access to twenty police
- 0:35Speaker 3: officers on the ground now in Alicorn, plus our rapid
- 0:38Speaker 3: assessment team made up of health personnel and other government
- 0:41Speaker 3: employees and working with the local community there. But a
- 0:43Speaker 3: lot of tests have been obtained, so we're awaiting the
- 0:46Speaker 3: outcome of those results. We hope some will start coming
- 0:49Speaker 3: through this morning and some further on later today. So
- 0:52Speaker 3: we've got a meeting at midday which should consolidate all
- 0:54Speaker 3: the information in advance of making a determination on the
- 0:58Speaker 3: currency of the lockdowns for both Ali Krung and Tennant Creek,
- 1:01Speaker 3: which on current trend to due to close at five
- 1:03Speaker 3: pm today.
- 1:04Speaker 2: All right, so we'll keep a very close eye on that.
- 1:06Speaker 1: Have people largely been doing the right thing and being
- 1:09Speaker 1: compliant in those areas.
- 1:11Speaker 3: They have, They've been fantastic, truth be told. Encouragingly for
- 1:15Speaker 3: us at the moment, it looks like from the testing
- 1:17Speaker 3: we've seen so far, Tenant Creek hasn't had any remaining
- 1:20Speaker 3: positives in the community. We've got those that we know
- 1:24Speaker 3: have been positive in the hospital and the like, so
- 1:26Speaker 3: we've got pretty good line of sight there at the moment.
- 1:28Speaker 3: But again, we've got a raft of testing that occurred
- 1:30Speaker 3: yesterday that we really need to see to make sure
- 1:33Speaker 3: that we've got that covered. And similarly, we're awaiting the
- 1:35Speaker 3: outcome of the significant amount of testing that's been undertaken
- 1:38Speaker 3: in Ali Cron.
- 1:39Speaker 1: So still a little bit early to say. If things
- 1:41Speaker 1: are looking good at this.
- 1:42Speaker 3: Point, it's encouraging. But as I say, the community of
- 1:47Speaker 3: Tenant Creek and Ali Kron can be very assured that
- 1:49Speaker 3: we're trying to make the most informed, balanced position, and
- 1:53Speaker 3: we are critically aware that Christmas is looming, and our
- 1:56Speaker 3: further and intent is to try and make sure that
- 1:58Speaker 3: Christmas is an enjoyable day for them. But we certainly
- 2:01Speaker 3: don't want to pose any greater risk for people unfortunately
- 2:04Speaker 3: because of the low vaccination rates that are there.
- 2:06Speaker 2: Yeah, so being cautious, I suppose, which I think we
- 2:08Speaker 2: all need to be now.
- 2:09Speaker 1: Earlier this week we did see more people have scorne
- 2:12Speaker 1: from the Howard Springs quarantine facility. I know that you've
- 2:15Speaker 1: previously said that it's not a jail, but we do
- 2:17Speaker 1: know that some people seem to be struggling to be
- 2:19Speaker 1: in there as we see COVID in the communities and
- 2:23Speaker 1: indeed in various locations around the NT sort.
- 2:25Speaker 2: Of move around.
- 2:27Speaker 1: Do we need to rethink the way that we are
- 2:29Speaker 1: doing quarantine, Well, I.
- 2:31Speaker 3: Think we already have. That's obviously part of the approach
- 2:34Speaker 3: we've taken towards December twenty. But there's a point of
- 2:36Speaker 3: difference here. A lot of those people in recent times
- 2:39Speaker 3: that have been absconding have been people who are there
- 2:42Speaker 3: as close contacts, and as I've indicated before, have come
- 2:45Speaker 3: from a community and a lifestyle of being significantly overcrowded
- 2:50Speaker 3: to being placed in a little studio apartment for what
- 2:52Speaker 3: a better description, and that can be pretty lonely when
- 2:55Speaker 3: you're used to the cacophony of life all around you.
- 3:01Speaker 3: Got out on Sunday, young girls, they're in their middle teens.
- 3:04Speaker 3: One of them was actually due to have their birthday
- 3:07Speaker 3: the next day. We wrap them up relatively quickly. And
- 3:10Speaker 3: as I say, I think the fact of the matter
- 3:12Speaker 3: is we've had in excess to thirty seven thousand people
- 3:14Speaker 3: through that facility since we kicked it off more at
- 3:17Speaker 3: full time and around June of twenty twenty. That's an
- 3:21Speaker 3: exceptional number, and the compliance really is exceptional. Every hotel
- 3:24Speaker 3: quarantine arrangement had previously had people who were less compliant.
- 3:29Speaker 3: We've been fairly fortunate that when they have headed off,
- 3:32Speaker 3: we've rounded them up relatively quickly.
- 3:33Speaker 1: Now I know that as the borders opened earlier this week,
- 3:36Speaker 1: obviously we saw some changes to testing and the need
- 3:39Speaker 1: for those who have arrived but not yet received proof
- 3:42Speaker 1: of a negative test result to quarantine at home. Is
- 3:45Speaker 1: this something that the police have had to then check
- 3:47Speaker 1: compliance on.
- 3:48Speaker 3: We do ad our road border checkpoints, and obviously we've
- 3:51Speaker 3: got our arrival teams that we've had established from across
- 3:55Speaker 3: government at the airports. The truth of it is most
- 3:58Speaker 3: jurisdictions are currently under some pressure as it relates to
- 4:01Speaker 3: their testing regimes. That pre seventy to our test is
- 4:05Speaker 3: one that we implemented to have the flights we established
- 4:08Speaker 3: from India. If you recall back in that early period
- 4:10Speaker 3: where the flights from India were having a bit of
- 4:12Speaker 3: a spate of COVID spread, we found that that pre
- 4:15Speaker 3: seventy to our negative test was quite a mitigation for
- 4:22Speaker 3: the risk of COVID entering the territory.
- 4:24Speaker 1: And so again on those boarders of people being largely compliant,
- 4:28Speaker 1: are they doing the right thing? They are?
- 4:30Speaker 3: Look, I think hopefully you saw some of the scenes
- 4:33Speaker 3: of the first flights that arrived on Monday. You know,
- 4:35Speaker 3: people were very, very overwhelmed by the fact they were
- 4:38Speaker 3: able to see loved ones they haven't seen for a
- 4:39Speaker 3: long period of time. I think this time of the year,
- 4:41Speaker 3: everyone is quite keen to get out and about the
- 4:44Speaker 3: compliance again for the whole of the Northern territory. Really,
- 4:46Speaker 3: with the numbers we've dealt with, the number of people
- 4:48Speaker 3: who they moved around and caught up as close contacts
- 4:51Speaker 3: has been nothing short of exceptional.
- 4:53Speaker 1: Yeah, it was pretty emotional actually to see some of
- 4:55Speaker 1: those families reunite after what's been a really long period
- 4:58Speaker 1: for a.
- 4:58Speaker 2: Lot of people.
- 4:59Speaker 1: And I know that it has been a tough time,
- 5:01Speaker 1: you know, for so many There's no doubt it's been
- 5:03Speaker 1: a tough time for our Northern Territory Police in terms
- 5:06Speaker 1: of the way that the job I think has evolved
- 5:09Speaker 1: over the last couple of years. You know, there's always
- 5:12Speaker 1: the fighting crime and trying to reduce domestic violence and
- 5:16Speaker 1: crime rates, but then when you look at the fact
- 5:18Speaker 1: that there's had to be that real management of COVID,
- 5:20Speaker 1: it's changed the way that policing happens in the territory.
- 5:24Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 5:24Speaker 3: I think from an external perspective that's probably right, But
- 5:26Speaker 3: the truth of it is, being a police officer, we're
- 5:29Speaker 3: far more than just law enforcement.
- 5:30Speaker 1: You know.
- 5:31Speaker 3: Community engagement is a significant part of what we do
- 5:33Speaker 3: and we see that through our bush policing experiences for
- 5:36Speaker 3: so so long. We've seen that through our school based
- 5:39Speaker 3: policing models. We've seen that through our community liaison work
- 5:42Speaker 3: that we do. So you know, for us to read
- 5:45Speaker 3: much rather spend more time in community engagement and seeing
- 5:48Speaker 3: people and helping and supporting people, serving and protecting, rather
- 5:52Speaker 3: than having to go and deal with the harnous impacts
- 5:54Speaker 3: of family and domestic violence, of going and consulting victims
- 5:58Speaker 3: whose home has been by an intruder. All of those
- 6:01Speaker 3: things we know have very, very detrimentally impacts, and that's
- 6:04Speaker 3: why we continue to work so hard across the board.
- 6:06Speaker 1: Now, one of the things I do want to ask
- 6:08Speaker 1: you about is we obviously saw those protests around the
- 6:11Speaker 1: vaccine mandate now on November sixth, I believe it was
- 6:14Speaker 1: the officers in the firing line, well, they had unknown
- 6:17Speaker 1: substances thrown at them by those protesters. Has there been
- 6:21Speaker 1: an update in terms of what that substance was?
- 6:25Speaker 3: Reports being provided to the prosecution, and that'll form part
- 6:28Speaker 3: of the prosecution breath.
- 6:29Speaker 1: Okay, So not something that we can make public at
- 6:32Speaker 1: this point. Now, what about in terms of injuries, Were
- 6:35Speaker 1: any of those officers injured and are they all okay?
- 6:38Speaker 3: At the point of time, as I spoke about it
- 6:40Speaker 3: earlier on their advice that was fed to me was
- 6:42Speaker 3: that they certainly felt a burning sensation that they needed
- 6:46Speaker 3: to take remedial action, particularly in washing down and hosing down.
- 6:49Speaker 3: What the substance was. They had no idea what that
- 6:52Speaker 3: substance was, but felt an immediate impact from it, so
- 6:55Speaker 3: you know, we know that they had to take very
- 6:58Speaker 3: quick care to be able to remove whatever it was
- 7:01Speaker 3: from their skin.
- 7:02Speaker 2: I do want to move along.
- 7:03Speaker 1: I know that crimes continued to be an issue which
- 7:06Speaker 1: police have been.
- 7:06Speaker 2: Working hard to combat.
- 7:08Speaker 1: There's no doubt about that, from youth crime to break ins,
- 7:11Speaker 1: to alcohol fueled violence and the terrible rates of domestic
- 7:14Speaker 1: violence that we just touched on. When you talk about
- 7:18Speaker 1: those crime rates, how are things going in the Northern
- 7:21Speaker 1: Territory at this point?
- 7:22Speaker 3: Interestingly, I've just received a brief from Tenant Creek day
- 7:26Speaker 3: twenty four without the report of an unlawful entry in
- 7:29Speaker 3: Tenant Creek. That is an exceptional outcome. In Darwin, I've
- 7:35Speaker 3: just been briefed by the Assistant Commissioner this morning that
- 7:37Speaker 3: there's been no unlawful entries reported in the last two days.
- 7:40Speaker 3: So these are encouraging signs that we've got. Alice Springs
- 7:43Speaker 3: still had a handful today, as did Catherine and also
- 7:47Speaker 3: some verur remote communities. So we know that property crime
- 7:50Speaker 3: is still occurring. But what we also know is that
- 7:52Speaker 3: our people are very active in this space. You're clearly
- 7:55Speaker 3: aware of Tried and Uper operating in Darwin and Alic
- 7:58Speaker 3: Springs respectively, but also the teams in Catherine and Tenant Creek.
- 8:01Speaker 3: I've got a stronger focus on property crime and to
- 8:05Speaker 3: this point in time it looks like things are encouraging,
- 8:08Speaker 3: but day by day we don't ever take our foot
- 8:12Speaker 3: off the shold as it relates to this. We want
- 8:13Speaker 3: to try and prevent crime wherever we can. A lot
- 8:15Speaker 3: of people are going to get be going away for Christmas,
- 8:18Speaker 3: so please secure your premises, have a chat to your neighbors,
- 8:21Speaker 3: get someone to keep an eye on your house for you,
- 8:24Speaker 3: help us to help you well.
- 8:25Speaker 2: And I know it is so difficult.
- 8:26Speaker 1: I mean I have just seen obviously a press release
- 8:29Speaker 1: that's come out a short time ago, and we covered
- 8:31Speaker 1: this in the local news a little while ago Alice Springs.
- 8:34Speaker 2: Yesterday AVO about.
- 8:35Speaker 1: Three point thirty police received a report that a fifty
- 8:38Speaker 1: three year old had been robbed as he walked along
- 8:41Speaker 1: Madigan Street in Braitlan. I know, like you've said, there
- 8:45Speaker 1: has been so much work done by the police to
- 8:47Speaker 1: try and combat these kinds of things, but it will
- 8:49Speaker 1: be cold comfort to some out listening this morning, what
- 8:53Speaker 1: will you say to some of our territorianes that are
- 8:55Speaker 1: listening this morning, that are just hoping that come twenty
- 8:58Speaker 1: twenty two things are better when it comes to some
- 9:01Speaker 1: of that crime that we say, Well, what we.
- 9:03Speaker 3: Certainly anticipate is a reduction in the amount of alcohol
- 9:07Speaker 3: that will be freely available and the types of commodity
- 9:09Speaker 3: of alcohol that's out there. We saw a very detrimental
- 9:12Speaker 3: impact of that over the COVID journey associated to the
- 9:15Speaker 3: additional payments that we're in play. We're trying to make
- 9:18Speaker 3: sure that we have as much of a focus as
- 9:21Speaker 3: we possibly can on the point of sale to ensure
- 9:24Speaker 3: those on the band drinker register are getting access to alcohol.
- 9:28Speaker 3: But of course the community has to come on that
- 9:30Speaker 3: journey with us, and what we see continually is that
- 9:33Speaker 3: secondary supply is something that does link to causation of problems,
- 9:37Speaker 3: and particularly when we see alcohol making its way out
- 9:39Speaker 3: into remote communities and the devastating effect that has. But
- 9:42Speaker 3: I think the encouraging thing for everyone to know is
- 9:45Speaker 3: we've got a squad that we graduated recently. I'm graduating
- 9:48Speaker 3: another squad tomorrow evening, all in advance of surging particularly
- 9:52Speaker 3: down into our Springs and our regional places, but also
- 9:55Speaker 3: some additional support into our daw and police stations over
- 9:58Speaker 3: the new year and into January, so that we've got
- 10:01Speaker 3: extra boots on the ground actively out there trying to
- 10:04Speaker 3: make sure that the start to twenty twenty two is
- 10:06Speaker 3: a very encouraging one.
- 10:07Speaker 1: Now, when you touched on alcohol just a moment ago,
- 10:10Speaker 1: and some of the issues that we see obviously around
- 10:12Speaker 1: secondary supply. I know Top Springs Hotel they got in
- 10:15Speaker 1: contact with us earlier in the week they'd been broken into.
- 10:18Speaker 1: They believe about ten thousand dollars worth of alcohol stolen.
- 10:22Speaker 2: How big a concern.
- 10:24Speaker 1: Is that alcohol theft, but also you know the misuse
- 10:27Speaker 1: of alcohol within our community having on us in the territory.
- 10:32Speaker 3: Well, I think what it points to is a heavy
- 10:34Speaker 3: reliance on alcohol. It's clearly a commodity of choice. It's
- 10:38Speaker 3: clearly a commodity that people are prepared to break the
- 10:40Speaker 3: law to get access to. Now that's something that is
- 10:43Speaker 3: linked to a clear related health issues that relates to
- 10:46Speaker 3: the reliance on alcohol. We know that there is alcoholism
- 10:49Speaker 3: well and truly prominent, particularly unfortunately amongst Aboriginal people, and
- 10:53Speaker 3: we deal with that each and every day. Unfortunately, our
- 10:55Speaker 3: protective custody statistics are so overrepresented as it relates to
- 10:59Speaker 3: average people that that is clearly a line of sight
- 11:02Speaker 3: that we are trying to focus on. Hence the reason
- 11:05Speaker 3: we have pintos sale controls in place across our regional locatelyies,
- 11:08Speaker 3: and hence the reason we work so closely with all
- 11:12Speaker 3: publicans and also the Licensing Commission to try and make
- 11:15Speaker 3: sure that the use of alcohol is what it's intended
- 11:18Speaker 3: to be, a social outbreak, not drinking to the point
- 11:21Speaker 3: of devastation and destruction within your family.
- 11:24Speaker 1: Now, when we talk about those police staffing levels, how
- 11:27Speaker 1: are they looking at the moment and coming into the
- 11:29Speaker 1: new year. I know you said that there is going
- 11:31Speaker 1: to be another squad graduating, but there has been a
- 11:33Speaker 1: lot of concerns raised in recent months that some of
- 11:36Speaker 1: our experienced officers are leaving and they're being replaced by,
- 11:40Speaker 1: you know, those that are just graduating.
- 11:42Speaker 2: How are we.
- 11:43Speaker 1: Looking for twenty twenty two in terms of that loss
- 11:46Speaker 1: of experience, but obviously the gain of those new constables.
- 11:50Speaker 3: Again, I think there's a bit of an urban myth
- 11:52Speaker 3: out there about this loss of experience that we've had
- 11:54Speaker 3: a look at the numbers. The large group of people
- 11:56Speaker 3: that have been leaving really between the two to seven
- 11:58Speaker 3: year period of time servos and that's not an uncommon trend.
- 12:02Speaker 3: We average most people around policing to do about seven
- 12:05Speaker 3: plus years. Interestingly, our ten to twenty year cadre and
- 12:09Speaker 3: beyond are not ones who are leaving en mass. And
- 12:12Speaker 3: I think the general sense that we've got is that
- 12:14Speaker 3: these new recruits that we've been bringing in have hit
- 12:16Speaker 3: the ground with a high level of enthusiasm, passion. They're
- 12:19Speaker 3: not the ones who are attracting our complaints against police.
- 12:22Speaker 3: They're not getting complaints made against them for rudeness or inaction. Unfortunately,
- 12:26Speaker 3: that's linked to some of the category that people might
- 12:28Speaker 3: describe as our experience police. A number of our poliefs
- 12:32Speaker 3: who have moved on have gone on for bona fide,
- 12:34Speaker 3: legitimate reasons to head back and see family. And COVID
- 12:37Speaker 3: has been a pandemic that's impacted the world and change
- 12:39Speaker 3: people's views. But look at what's happening out there. Police
- 12:43Speaker 3: officers are putting their hands up to rush to Ali Kurung,
- 12:46Speaker 3: to rush to Tenant Creek, to provide frontline services to
- 12:49Speaker 3: those communities. They did that to Robinson River, they did
- 12:51Speaker 3: it to Binjari, they did it to cal Kringi, darg Ragu,
- 12:54Speaker 3: Timber Creek. That doesn't give me much concern that we're
- 12:57Speaker 3: an agency that's gone the wrong way. In fact, what
- 12:59Speaker 3: it does is fill me with pride about the passion
- 13:02Speaker 3: how people have to serve and protect their home.
- 13:04Speaker 2: What would you say have been the biggest challenges this year.
- 13:07Speaker 3: Oh, there's been plenty, Clearly the changing landscape of COVID,
- 13:12Speaker 3: and I think everyone's seen that the adaptive ability to
- 13:16Speaker 3: be able to react and set some level of balance
- 13:18Speaker 3: in what's been in place. I think in November alone,
- 13:21Speaker 3: we had fifty one Chief Health Officer directions that the
- 13:24Speaker 3: Emergency Operations Center then had to put into practice and
- 13:27Speaker 3: realize a transition on the ground. We've now moved into
- 13:31Speaker 3: the twenty December posture and allowed families to be back
- 13:34Speaker 3: home for Christmas and also allowed territories to be able
- 13:36Speaker 3: to go and travel knowing that they can come back
- 13:39Speaker 3: home and not have to go into quarantine when they
- 13:41Speaker 3: return from seeing loved ones into state. It's been an
- 13:43Speaker 3: exceptional achievement. It's had a lot of bumps in the
- 13:46Speaker 3: road all the while, all the way back to the
- 13:49Speaker 3: start of the year, we were dealing with floods through Jimp,
- 13:51Speaker 3: Lincoln and Day River. We've been dealing with bushfires again
- 13:54Speaker 3: throughout the course of the year. We had to lock
- 13:56Speaker 3: down down and if you recall and Territory Day was
- 13:58Speaker 3: jeopardized and deferred into the peak of a fairly busy period.
- 14:02Speaker 3: So we're a lot more planning focused on trying to
- 14:05Speaker 3: make sure that our fiers we're able to get through
- 14:07Speaker 3: that evening as well as bushfires. Nt just a superb
- 14:10Speaker 3: effort by our people across the board. I just can't
- 14:13Speaker 3: speak highly enough of their contribution.
- 14:15Speaker 2: Well, and you know, on behalf of the whole community.
- 14:18Speaker 1: I think that I would like to thank the Northern
- 14:20Speaker 1: Territory Police Force for the enormous amount of work that
- 14:23Speaker 1: they do. You know, very often we are speaking to
- 14:27Speaker 1: your officers on this show. They're providing information on a
- 14:30Speaker 1: lot of different issues that happen around the place. And
- 14:33Speaker 1: you know, time and time again we hear on the
- 14:35Speaker 1: phone lines as well, even from people who are impacted
- 14:37Speaker 1: by crime. You know, they're upset that they've been impacted
- 14:40Speaker 1: by crime, but they're incredibly grateful for the work that
- 14:43Speaker 1: the police do on the ground to try to make
- 14:45Speaker 1: sure that they're you know, that they're able to help
- 14:47Speaker 1: them and able to apprehend those offenders. So a big
- 14:50Speaker 1: thank you to the Northern Territory Police for the wonderful
- 14:53Speaker 1: work that all of your officers and yourself do. I
- 14:56Speaker 1: know it's been a really tough couple of.
- 14:57Speaker 3: Years, it has, and thanks for that. As I say,
- 15:01Speaker 3: I can't give enough superlatives to their efforts collectively. We've
- 15:06Speaker 3: got significant good people out there making a difference each
- 15:09Speaker 3: and every day, and it's a privilege for us to
- 15:11Speaker 3: do what we do. We're in the fortunate position that
- 15:13Speaker 3: we get to serve and protect not only our loved ones,
- 15:16Speaker 3: our family, but the broad and Norn Territory community.
- 15:18Speaker 1: Well, Northern Territory Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker, we really appreciate
- 15:22Speaker 1: your time.
- 15:22Speaker 2: Hope you have a lovely Christmas with your family.
- 15:25Speaker 3: We'll see how we go.
- 15:26Speaker 2: Thank you.