Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Police Association President Paul McCue is calling for the City Safe patrol to be reinstated after an officer was kicked in the head at the weekend

Transcript

Police Association President Paul McCue is calling for the City Safe patrol to be reinstated after an officer was kicked in the head at the weekend · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix one O four nine.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: The Northern Territory Police Association is calling for the immediate
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  Speaker 1: reinstatement of the City Safe Patrol Group following yet another
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  Speaker 1: assault on a frontline worker. Well in the CBD on
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  Speaker 1: the weekend, a member was kicked in the head while
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  Speaker 1: attempting to arrest a woman on Edmund Street. As I
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  Speaker 1: understand it, the assault is another incident to violence against
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  Speaker 1: our Northern Territory police in the last week. And joining
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  Speaker 1: me on the line is the Police Association president Paul McHugh.
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  Speaker 2: Hi, Paul, good morning, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Well, what is the City Safe Patrol Group?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Katie, look at it used to be a group
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  Speaker 2: of police who would patrol the city streets effectively primarily
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  Speaker 2: on foot. They would have obviously some vehicles to assist
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  Speaker 2: when they needed, but it was a group of police.
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  Speaker 2: I would walk through our pubs and clubs in that
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  Speaker 2: main area down Mitchell Street and some other city streets
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  Speaker 2: and just keeping eye on the general public and you know,
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  Speaker 2: walk through the premises, make sure everyone was behaving and
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  Speaker 2: obviously assist when things went pair shaped. And you know
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  Speaker 2: they haven't been in place for some time now, so why.
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  Speaker 1: Did they cease Was it as a result of COVID.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, obviously, primarily you would think because of resourcing pressures.
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  Speaker 2: COVID impacted a whole ranger sections and no doubt, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they were looking for police to be in vans and
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  Speaker 2: one way was to find units such as City Safe
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  Speaker 2: and remove them from the streets and put them back
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  Speaker 2: in vans. But it's had obviously a detrimental effects sadly well.
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  Speaker 1: And we know over the course of the weekend there
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  Speaker 1: was obviously the incident where there was a fight, a
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  Speaker 1: number of people involved in a fight earlier in the weekend,
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  Speaker 1: and then there was the incident where a police officer
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  Speaker 1: was assaulted. How big a difference do you think having
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  Speaker 1: this group reintroduced, or having this patrol reintroduced would have
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  Speaker 1: in situations.
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  Speaker 2: Like this, It's an enormous impact.
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  Speaker 1: You know.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously they were high visibility patrols. They would walk up
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  Speaker 2: and down the beat. People would know they were there.
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  Speaker 2: They'd walk through the nightclubs and pubs. As I've said,
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  Speaker 2: you know, patrons knew full well there were police in
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  Speaker 2: the CBD. But with the removal of that unit, it
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  Speaker 2: put an enormous impact on the front line. You know,
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  Speaker 2: our general duty's often down to one van on a
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  Speaker 2: night shift, as was the case when this assault took place.
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  Speaker 2: So from our perspective, it not only was an unsafe
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  Speaker 2: workplace for our members, but of course the community suffered
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  Speaker 2: because there were a lack of resources to assist. So,
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  Speaker 2: you know, it's really a dangerous situation when you've got
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  Speaker 2: alcohol fuel violence. You've got you know, many many members
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  Speaker 2: of the public there topped up on Grogham. They want
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  Speaker 2: to become heroes and they want to egg on anyone
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  Speaker 2: who's having a crack at the police, and of course
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  Speaker 2: it becomes a very dangerous situation for our troops on
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  Speaker 2: the beat.
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  Speaker 1: Paul, have you had any updates on how that police
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  Speaker 1: officer is going at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I believe he's doing okay, but obviously a
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  Speaker 2: very dangerous situation when he was attacked, and of course
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  Speaker 2: then other members of the public thought, you know, they
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  Speaker 2: try and be heroes as well, and of course they
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  Speaker 2: had to resort to trying to get back up from
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  Speaker 2: another sector within Darwin, you know. But it's just one
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  Speaker 2: of many assaults, as we've spoken about recently, you know,
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  Speaker 2: from Alice Springs Catherine poor keats Tenant Creek. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it's happening far too often, and you know, and we're
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  Speaker 2: coming up to the tourist season, We're coming up to
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  Speaker 2: the dry season. We're going to see a whole bunch
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  Speaker 2: of more people now with borders open up, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: we need more police on the beat than ever before.
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  Speaker 1: So do you feel as though these incidents do expose
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  Speaker 1: a lack of police resources within our CBD.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, obviously, you know there's no doubt when the
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  Speaker 2: City Safe Patrol ceased to exist and our other social
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  Speaker 2: auto patrol units cease to exist, it put all the
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  Speaker 2: pressure back onto our general duties police, who are you
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  Speaker 2: sadly struggling at the moment to get more than one
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  Speaker 2: to two vans on the road And quite regularly I'm
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  Speaker 2: hearing of only one van in the Darwin sector. Now,
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  Speaker 2: remember Darwin doesn't just include with the CBD. It goes
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  Speaker 2: all the way out to the new Naiklus station and
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  Speaker 2: many other areas around the city, so you know, it's
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  Speaker 2: a huge area to cover. And let's not forget impacting
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  Speaker 2: this as well as the closure of the Darwen Watchhouse.
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  Speaker 2: So if that unit was to make an arrest or
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  Speaker 2: apprehend somebody. You know, they're heading out to Palmerston for
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  Speaker 2: probably an hour and a half. And I'm not trying
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  Speaker 2: to be alarmist here, but you know, this is the
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  Speaker 2: reality of what our people are facing. You know, the
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  Speaker 2: general duties and other sections are facing in the Dalen
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  Speaker 2: area at the moment and other areas within the police Paul, the.
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  Speaker 1: Issue of public drunkenness is something that we've spoken about
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  Speaker 1: on so many occasions on this show. In fact, I
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  Speaker 1: would say it's been one of the biggest issues since
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  Speaker 1: the beginning of the year. Now, I don't mean sort
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  Speaker 1: of you know what we've spoken about this morning in
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  Speaker 1: terms of outside licensed venues, you know, or around that precinct,
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  Speaker 1: but I mean some of the issues that we're seeing
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  Speaker 1: as well with anti social behavior just in the streets
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  Speaker 1: through the day and night. We know that we've got
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people in town from other communities. What
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  Speaker 1: impact is that having do you think on our police
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  Speaker 1: at the moment, and could we be doing things a
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  Speaker 1: bit differently.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, it's an enormous impact across the board really
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  Speaker 2: because obviously the more more incidents that take place on
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  Speaker 2: the streets and more drunken behavior, the more assaults, you know,
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  Speaker 2: that impacts on resourcing dramatically, not just for general duties,
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  Speaker 2: but for our crime members, our forensic people. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it impacts across the board. And so the more we
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  Speaker 2: can do it in the proactive space, having city safe units,
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  Speaker 2: having Social order units, it can really impact at the
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  Speaker 2: front end and try and reduce that back end additional
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  Speaker 2: work required when assaults and crimes do take place. So
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  Speaker 2: the more we can do at the front end, the better.
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  Speaker 2: And obviously there's no doubt I'm positive that police management
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  Speaker 2: would be certainly looking at this right now and thinking
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  Speaker 2: how can we find additional resources to make this happen.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure.
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  Speaker 1: Well, just very quickly, can you tell us what the
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  Speaker 1: Social order units were and you know how long it's
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  Speaker 1: been since they've been operational.
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  Speaker 2: There are another obvious impact of COVID. Social Order primarily
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  Speaker 2: consisted of police offices and Aboriginal community police officers based
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  Speaker 2: out of the old Nightclis station and they would each day,
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  Speaker 2: work day and evening shift in all sectors of Darwin,
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  Speaker 2: just really focusing on the drunken behavior or social social
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  Speaker 2: order problems. And you know when that disbanded of course
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  Speaker 2: that was further impacting our general duties. So you just
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  Speaker 2: simply don't have the time or the resources to be
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  Speaker 2: doing that, as well as there are other jobs they
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  Speaker 2: are required to attend to.
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  Speaker 1: So it does sound as though, and I mean I
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  Speaker 1: know that the Northern Territory government has obviously got some
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  Speaker 1: serious work to do in this space. It does sound
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  Speaker 1: as though there are a few levers though that could
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  Speaker 1: be pulled, even from the police perspective.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt. And look, I'm almost certain industries such
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  Speaker 2: as hospitality and those people that represent a lot of
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  Speaker 2: these alcohol establishments would be supportive of that. I'm sure
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  Speaker 2: the last thing they want to see is his drunken
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  Speaker 2: behavior turn pear shaped out on the streets. And of
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  Speaker 2: course we want to make sure that people are safe,
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  Speaker 2: and one way to do that is to reintroduce units
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  Speaker 2: such as City so Well.
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  Speaker 1: Police Association President Paul Mchew, we always appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you very much for having a chat with us
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  Speaker 1: this morning.
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  Speaker 2: No problem, Katie, cheers.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you,