Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Assistant Commissioner Martin Dole Darwin Region and Assistant Commissioner Craig Laidler Alice Springs region about NT crime

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Katie spoke with Assistant Commissioner Martin Dole Darwin Region and Assistant Commissioner Craig Laidler Alice Springs region about NT crime · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So we know that the Northern Territory Police have certainly
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: been pretty busy and over the weekend. As you heard
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: on the show, it's certainly been a busy time for
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: them in Alis quite a few incidents that they were
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: called out to over the weekend. In one instance, three
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: teenagers allegedly stole a car and went for a joy
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: ride after driving off from a service station at Barrow Creek.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: After stopping the vehicle with a tired deflation device, police
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: chase the occupants through scrubland.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: They eventually arrested.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: The boys, aged fourteen and fifteen, with the help of
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: patrol dog Fitzi, who had rocks thrown at him during
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: that ordeal. Now we know that investigations are still ongoing
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: into sixteen break ins, three attempted breakings and eight stolen cars.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Central Australia is not alone. We often hear of incidents
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: obviously in the Darwin region as well. Police still calling
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: for assistance to locate two females who allegedly assaulted and
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: robbed a taxi driver on vandal And Drive near Pattison
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Street on Saturday.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Now, joining me.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: In the studio right now, I'll just make sure I
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: get these titles correct because I was saying the wrong
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: thing a little bit earlier. We have got Assistant Commissioner
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: of Greater Darwin and Road Policing, Martin Dole.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Cating, and good morning to your listeners.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: And we've also got Craig Laidler, who is obviously the
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner as well of Regional and Remote Policing.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Craig.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: Morning, good morning to your liustiness.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Thank you both for joining us this morning. Craig, I
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: might just get you to pull that mic up for
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: me slightly, if you can, so we can hear you
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: nice and loudly. We know that it's been a busy
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: time for the Terrtory Police, and I think most people
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: listening this morning would understand that it's always a pretty
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: busy time for our Northern Territory Police. So I appreciate
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: you both joining us this morning. Craig, I'm keen to
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: find out from you. Firstly, we know over the weekend
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: you'd have to say it was a bit of a
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: shocker in Alice Springs. Six people have now been arrested
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: as I understand it, and investigations are still ongoing. Is
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: this one of the worst weekends that you've experienced in ALUs?
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: A very busy weekend.
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: What we had was a group of offenders who undertook
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: a manner of behavior over the particular the two days
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: of Saturday and the Sunday. But what we did have
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: was a fantastic police response. You know, we had Strikeforce
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: Viper that we all know about, our general duties, police,
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: our drone, our canine all out working together and quite
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: quickly they had these offenders in custody and even yesterday,
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: so we had seven of the offenders all remanded in detention.
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: Initially one of them got bail when we first arrested them,
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: but was remanded from court yesterday. So a really good
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: result from excellent work across the board with all of
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: our police that attended, as well as our prosecutions.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: So seven offenders in custody and does that sort of
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: wrap up?
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Is that all that.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: You are chasing now in terms of those offenses that
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: were committed.
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we're still still some further investigations in regards to
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: all the offenses, but yeah, they're the offenders that were
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: involved over the weekend, so certainly happy to have them
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: in custody and a good result for them to be remanded.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Are they all youths?
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: They are all youths, and that's the difficult that we're
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: dealing with at the moment, Katie. Like, I've been in
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: other Springs now just over twelve months, and I know
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: these names, and these are the names that were arrested
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: last year. You know, some of these youths have criminal
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: history of two hundred and forty, two hundred and eighteen,
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: one hundred and ninety eight and they're seventeen years old,
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: sixteen years old, fifteen years old.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: So when you say two hundred and forty, you're talking
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: like two hundred and forty offenses to their names.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's their criminal history, that's what they've been involved in. Wow.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I mean there would be a lot of people listening
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: this morning and hearing that number and thinking to themselves,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: how are they on the streets able to still get
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: involved in this kind of crime.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: Well, that's the gap for us.
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: So we're remanding them in custody, so there's no issues there.
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: But these are property offenses. They're going to be released
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: from custody at some stage even when they're sentenced. So
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: the gap is what are we doing to change those behaviors.
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: It's actually occurring for these youths that actually shifts them
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: on to a different path. Because some of these have
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: got to the age of seventeen, they've been offending since
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: twelve thirteen, and what's happened in the meantime there, so
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: we haven't had the right things in place to change
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: those behaviors and actually have them being productive contributors to society.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: And I mean it.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Must be hard for you guys, particularly in a small
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: town like Alice Springs, where you would get to know
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: the offenders, they would get to know the police as well.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: And then if you're picking them up what feels like
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: fairly often by the sounds of it, if they've got
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: that many offenses against their name, it must feel like it's.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: A bit of a revolt.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: I don't know how you describe it, Like it must
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: feel like it's quite frustrating to be picking them up
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: and them continuously doing the wrong thing.
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, because it's frustrating. We don't want youth and custody.
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: I don't want to be arresting youth. And I've said
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: it many times. We can't arrest our way out of this,
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: So there needs to be a change. We need to
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: have something in place where we're able to change the
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: behaviors of these youths.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: And I will I do want to talk a little
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: bit more about that in just a moment. I mean,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: is there any reason that you can sort of identify
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: why there was such a spike on the weekend?
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: Nothing particular other than this group of youths decided to
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: get together and undertake those offenses.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Well, so all seven of those offenders now, they've all
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: been arrested and they remain in custody at this point.
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: That's correct.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: So we will obviously wait and see exactly what goes
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: on there and how many offenses are they're charged with
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: and all that kind of thing. It sounds as though
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: there's still quite a bit of work underway.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: We also know.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: We did just catch up with the Independent memberfore Aralou
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: and Robin Lamley just a small time ago, about half
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: an hour ago, and she had said that there was
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: the alleged rape of a child in Alice Springs over
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: the weekend. She had questioned whether the police have actually
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: arrested anybody in relation to this incident and whether the
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: offender is still at large.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: That one.
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: What I can tell you is it's a sensitive investigation.
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: There's no risk to the past public at the moment.
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: But I can't provide any more comment than.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: That, Okay, But an assurance, I guess, is there to
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: the community that that person's not at large or at
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: risk to anybody else.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: We don't have a risk to the public at the moment.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: All right now.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I know, as I mentioned in the opener, this obviously
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: isn't just a situation in terms of some of this
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: senseless crime that we see around the place in Alice Springs.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I know that Alice Springs has well and truly been
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: under the spotlight, but it is something that we've seen
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: as well around Darwin, and we have sort of seen
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: really I guess you'd say, quite senseless crime at different times.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: We know that there is sort of things bubbling along.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: I spoke just a moment ago about that incident in
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Malac with a taxi driver being assaulted and robbed.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Firstly, Martin, is there any update on that incident?
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Katie?
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: We are still calling for witnesses in relation to that
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: detective acting senior sergeant, and that Cooper is in charge
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: of that investigation, and she's still calling for one of
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: the females who was a witness to the incident to
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: come forward and speak to police in relation to that.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: So that is still being actively investigated by our Serious
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Crime section.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right now, I know that we all so obviously
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: hear quite a bit about businesses being broken into. Obviously,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: zacholi IgA is a really clear example because they have
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: just been you know, they have been like a beacon
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: for all the wrong reasons. I guess you'd say, in
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: terms of having to speak about the incidents that they
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: have gone through and that real frustration. Is it frustrating
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: for the police as well to sort of be rocking
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: up and finding again that there is a lot of
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: the time youths involved in senseless crime.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: It is frustrating, Katie, and look, our thoughts do go
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: out to those businesses that are affected. It's not only frustrating,
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: but it's traumatic to be the victim of one of
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: these crimes. So it is frustrating for police. It's frustrating
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: to continue to have to apprehend defenders that are committing
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: these senseless acts.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, is there a spike at the moment when
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: it comes to that youth offending.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't say there's a particular spike, particularly not here
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: in Darwen. It's been pretty consistent. We haven't seen a
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: dramatic drop in numbers. I've got some short snapshot of
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: figures just in relation to some of the work from
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: our Strikeforce Trident at the moment, which is our property
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: crime team in Darwen. In the period up until now,
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: the past three months, our Trident have responded to two
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: hundred and forty two residential breaks, one hundred and thirteen
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: business breaks. We've apprehended one hundred and sixty seven youth
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: and thirty two adults, and we've issued eighteen summons in
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: relation to those offending in the last three months.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: So in the last three months, tell us again the
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: number of offenders.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: One hundred and sixty seven youth apprehensions, thirty two adult
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: apprehensions and eighteen summons is in relation to that offending
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: in the last three months alone.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Wow, there's some pretty big numbers again, and it does
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: go to show you, obviously, the work that the police
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: are putting in to try and apprehend those people that
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: are doing the wrong thing. Have you seen much of
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: a change when it comes to that ring leader legislation.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: I know that that was something that was introduced a
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: short time ago. By the sounds of it, the number
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: of youths offending is much greater than the adults in
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: this space.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: But have you noticed or.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Have you seen much of a change since the implementation
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: of that ring leader legislation.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: We currently have matters before the court that subject to
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: the charges that were introduced. I suppose it's a little
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: bit too early to tell whether it has much impact.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: A lot of these us that are committing offenses are
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: groups of youths. It's not the norm that there's ring
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: leaders attached to that. But we have apprehended and charged
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: people under that new legislation.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, Now when we talk you know, I guess
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: this is across the board. When we talk about some
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: of this property crime and the offending that we're seeing,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: in some cases it may not be regarded, as you know,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: as the more serious on the scale. If you're talking
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: about somebody throwing the brick through the window, let's say,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: at a restaurant, then getting inside and you know, running
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: away with the with the donations that are there sitting
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: on the descore, or getting into the till and stealing
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: a small amount of money. Some of it, you know,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: that we're talking about may not be huge when it
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: comes to the scale of offending, but I guess for
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: the business that's on the receiving end, or for the
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: family that time has been broken into on the receiving end,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: it's a pretty frightening scenario and situation to be in.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: But are we seeing around the territory at the moment.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: An issue with young people engaged in pretty bad behavior.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: You know, in some situations cars stolen and then out
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: on the streets at night, potentially putting themselves in extreme
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: danger and those in the community, and then obviously those
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: situations that may be seen as as a bit more
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: minor but still really ordinary stuff that the community is
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: going through. Are we seeing more and more kids on
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the street at the moment doing that kind of stuff?
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: I'll take that one, Katie.
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: First of all, absolutely, for the victims, to them, it's
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: not minor. So this is their homes, this is their
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: businesses that they work hard for, so nothing about that's
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: mine that they're affected by these crimes. And secondly, so
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: to that point, in September, this is a good example.
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: We had four nine year olds committing unlawful entry and
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: the first thing that I asked of the investigators was
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: do we have missing person reports or anything in regards
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: to their welfare? And there was nobody looking for four
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: nine year olds late at night. So to me, that's
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: a huge concern. How can four nine year olds be
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: out committing offenses and there's nobody looking for them. Well,
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: I remember when my children are nine years old, if
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: they're missing for ten minutes, that would have I would
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: have panicked.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: Four nine year.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Olds my kids are. One of my children is about
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: that age. So for me, I find that quite mortifying.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: So you're talking about these four nine year olds being
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: out on the street, what kind of incidents involved?
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: So an un lawful entry in our springs?
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: In our springs, what was the outcome there? Where were
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: their parents?
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: So the parents were at home.
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: Obviously we make our notifications in regards to the welfare
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: of the children, but just the fact that they're out,
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: they're engaged in that behavior, is just very concerning the
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: safety of the youths. As you said before, they're in
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: stolen cars, so they become a risk to themselves, they
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: become a risk to the community. You know, I've been
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: asked many times about youths and custody. But you know,
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: my answer sometimes is that's the safest place for them
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: to be rather than engaging in these behaviors.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: What is going on here? Like where are we?
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Where is the system letting us down? Because to me,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the fact that there's nine year olds on the street
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: and then engaged in an unlawful entry is it beggars belief?
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: Like?
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Where where are things letting us down? Here?
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: With the fix needs to be police, it's gone too far.
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: It needs to be well before we get involved.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: So you know, we talk about this very often.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Obviously, the police are out there as you've both pointed
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: out some of those different statistics, some of those different
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: incidents that you pulled out to, and the police out
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: there obviously trying to do their best to keep the
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: community safe. But I mean, do we need more happening?
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: You've just said we obviously need more happening before it
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: gets to that point. But is it other agencies? Is
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: it NGOs?
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Like where.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: Yes, Katie, there's a gap there. The police aren't the
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: answer to everything. Our detention centers are full where apprehending
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: offenders as crimes are committed, Our clear uprates are very high.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: But as assistant Commissioner Laidler said, if it comes down
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: to the police to take action, something's gone wrong before
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: it gets to us. So there is a lot to
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: be done out there in that space. If our youth
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: detention facilities are full, our bail are supported, bail accommodation
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: places are full, there needs to be some family responsibility
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: for these youths as well. There is other agencies out
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: there that are delivering, but we say police are the
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: only one out there twenty four hours, seven days a
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: week responding to these matters.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: In some of these situations, I would imagine, you know,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: some of these kids are actually in the care of
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: territory families, and I know that there's probably a bit
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: that you guys can't say about that, But if you
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: know what happens if a child is in the care
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: of territory families, Police pick them up and they get
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: taken to wherever there's staying, Like, how are they then
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: able to sort of end up back on the straight.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: It's a complicated issue, Katie. Let me just say some
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: of the youths potentially that we apprehend maybe yeah, but
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't go and generalize that that's the case. For
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: a great deal I'd avoid that greatly. It's complicated that
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: the us that we apprehend are subject to trauma. The
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: reason that some of them are in care are for
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: that reason. And it's a complicated, a very complicated process.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: And the fact is, police custody is not the place
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: for these kids. It's not the place remand is not
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: the place for these kids. But it becomes an option
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: of last resort if they're out there still committing these offenses.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: Where else is there and who else takes action? If
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: it's not the police on the street responding to these
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: matters and taking those children to a safe place, And
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: if that is custody, then unfortunately, that's the last resort, isn't.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: It so well?
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: And you know, we've spoken about this before.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: I remember Matt Hollanby was on the show quite some
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: time back, one of the commanders within the Northern Territory
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Police saying that, you know, sometimes taking kids home on
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: a number of occasions within one night and then the
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: mending up back.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: On the street.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: We'd even heard from one of our listeners a bit
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: earlier in the week who owns one of the stores
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: in the mall in the Darwin City Mall, and she'd
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: said that they had had a brick thrown through the
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: window I believe, or had their window broken. Her understanding
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: was saying that those youths had been taken home but
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: then ended up back in the city and broke into
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: another location. I don't know exactly, you know, how the
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: system is letting us down, and I know that it
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: is obviously very complex, but it does make me question
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: there is enough support from some of those other agencies,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: or whether we need to be looking a little bit
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: more broadly at, you know, what is going on and
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: whether there needs to be for the support. I don't know,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, is that something that you guys have sort
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: of thought about.
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Assistant Commissioner Dolls, right, twenty four to seven, when
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: these offenses are happening, the ones you'll see on the
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: street is the police uniforms. You'll see us in cars,
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: on foot, drones, dogs, the whole lot.
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: But I think there needs to be a lot.
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: More out at those times, a lot more available to
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: deal with these children. Some of their home environments just
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: aren't safe, and we had some recent unlawful entries now
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: the springs at a tourist park where they just took.
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: A shower and went to sleep.
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: They weren't there to steal anything, So you've got to
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: question some of the home environments that they're subject to,
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: some of the violence, alcohol related harm, all very complex issues.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: I know that quite often these discussions become very political,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: and there is a lot of political debate around all
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: of the time, but at the moment, there's a lot
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: of that political debate around the need for changes to
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: bail legislation. But is that I mean, is that bail legislation.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Does it make much of a difference for you guys
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: or has it made much of a difference with some
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: of those changes that have been implemented.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: I think we probably both have some answers to that.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: But can I just point out, Katie, we really want
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: to avoid politicizing the police force. The police are out
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: there successfully apprehending these people and using the tools that
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: are given to us. The police actively engaged with whatever
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: Parliament is in it the day to make changes to legislation,
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: and we work with what's given to us and we
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: make recommendations in relation to what's there. So I think
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: we really want to avoid talking about deficiencies for the
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: police from whatever government's in bar At the moment. What
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: we need is a bipartisan approach and stop using the
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: police as the I suppose as the political puppet and
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: referring to the police force when it comes to crime
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: statistics and trouble because we're out there every day making
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: a real difference.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: And just want to get your jobs done.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: By the sounds of it, I will, I mean, I know,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: I certainly take that on board and take what you've said.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: But I guess you know, when it comes to the
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: bailor like, are we seeing that with the bail legislation,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: is there still an opportunity for kids who have broken
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: the law to sort of be let out on bail
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: or has it sort of has it changed to some degree?
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: Our youth attension facilities are full, Cadie. We're consistently apprehending
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: youth for serious breaches at bail. In that three month
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: period I talked about previously with the one hundred and
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: sixty seven youth apprehensions, sixty of those apprehensions were for
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: serious breaches a bail under the new bail legislation. So
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: we do have the tools there and we are using
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: those tools.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Well, I tell you what it is, certainly a you
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: know it's a tough discussion to have. I know that
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: it's tough for all of the agencies, and the police
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: do a lot to try and make sure that you're
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: keeping the community safe. One other thing I do want
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: to ask about, though, very quickly, is we know that
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: obviously the COVID response is quite a complex one.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: I know that well.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: I don't think that either of you are sort of
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: in charge of that COVID response, But I still want
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: to ask are the police going to be out there
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: doing some of those physical checks or has there been
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: much of a decision made at this point in time
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: how it's going to work.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: Look, I don't have that specific information for you today.
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: I know there's a lot of work being done in
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: the planning for that under the COVID response led by
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: Assistant Comissioner Travis Worst, there is a lot of other
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: agencies that are involved in doing those checks and the
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: rollout and the enforcement and the checking on people in quarantine.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: I can't answer specifically what level the police will have
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: in relation to that. We certainly will have some involvement,
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: that's for sure.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Well, I really appreciate both of you coming in this
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: morning and having a bit further discussion with us about
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: some of the issues that we are seeing around the place.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner of Darwin or Greater Darwin and Road Policing,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Martin Dole, thank you very much for your time. And
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner Craig Ladler, Regional Remote Policing. I really appreciate
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: your time this morning as well.
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: Thank you, Tonie