Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst says there’s been a decrease in the number of reports of anti-social behaviour likely due to a decline in incidents and reporting

Transcript

Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst says there’s been a decrease in the number of reports of anti-social behaviour likely due to a decline in incidents and reporting · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Look, last week, you'll recall that we did have a
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: rough week I think with the situation where twenty nine
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: cars were stolen, thirty one unlawful entries, but through the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: work of the Northern Territory Police, there were twenty two
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: people arrested. Now joining me in the studio is the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner for the Darwin Region, Travis Worth.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Good morning to Youning Katy. How are you yeah, really good?
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning now, Assistant Commissioner,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: A terrible week for those Territorians who did have their
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: cars stolen and were broken into last week, twenty nine cars,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: thirty one unlawful entries. It seems though that the police
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: worked very quickly and very hard to be able to
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: apprehend twenty two different people. Do you know what caused
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: that spike?
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: What caused that spike?
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: So there were a number of different groups who weren't
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: linked or aligned, who were just behaving badly. It all
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: just sort of culminated. We had two different groups, specifically
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: one group that's still a deppt at being able to
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: wire a vehicle, and then we obviously have another group
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: who's not quite as sophisticated and have to unlawfully enter
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: a home, steal keys or a business still keys, and then.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: For use a vehicle as a consequence of that.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: So that activity across that particular seventy two hour window
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: meant but all of those cars were startled. We've recovered
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: majority of those. Now there are a number that went
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: out in the West Daily region, they too have been recovered.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: There's a number of other people beyond that have been
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: taken into custody as well. And thankfully, since six o'clock
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: Friday morning until now, there's been eight unlawful entries reported
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: across the Greater Dallan area, which is a massive reduction
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: compared to the activity we saw last week.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: So before I get to what work the police have
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: done over the course of the weekend to see that reduction,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: talk me through with those of rees that have been
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: made youths or adults.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: A combination of both.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: So the twenty two that you referenced earlier, nineteen of
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: those were used. A number of those youths were whether
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: they'll all be assessed for diversion, Some were found suitable,
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: some were not.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Some have been placed on remands, some are on bail.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Is it right, yes, So there's a large cross section
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: of those young people there was. There was particularly one
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: young person who was apprehended for the second time in
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: twenty four hours, who was also involved in our similar
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: offending the day prior, Like.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Are you just scratching your head when something like that happens,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: thinking to yourself, how on earth do we have the
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: same person three days in a row.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Well, unfortunately, none of this is new for the police
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: across the Northern Territory. But what we need to do
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: is work closely with community groups, the community, indigenous leaders,
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: non indigenous leaders, government NGOs to make sure that we're
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: able to put systems and processes in place that bring
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: people away from the idea that it is it is
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: appropriate to do this and make sure that offending's not occurring,
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: and that's our biggest challenge.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: There will definitely be people listening this morning thinking, how
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: can you have a youth who has you on one
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: day allegedly stolen vehicles and then been in a situation
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: where they're able to do that again the following day.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: How they not sort of either being held in remand
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: or being taken off the streets. I know that's you know,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: that's not really up to the police to determine what
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: does or doesn't happen to them. But there will definitely
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: be people questioning that listening this morning.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: Look absolutely, but we need the listeners need to understand
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: that when a young person who's never been in trouble
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: with police before is taken into custody for the first time,
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: the most appropriate response, depending on what the offending is,
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: of course, is for them to be diverted so that
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: they can appreciate their activity and their wrongdoing and actually
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: try and make amends. Now, a diversion program, if a
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: youth offends today, they don't need to be We need
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: to collect the evidence in relation to the offending, the
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: assessments completed then provided to the diversion service provider. That
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: doesn't happen in twenty four hours. That can take a
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: number of days to occur. Sometimes it'll actually take a
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: lot longer than that. We try and get as many
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: files done as quickly as we can so that diversion
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: occurs as contemporary to the offending as possible.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: That's our best outcome.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Now you're talking before about some of the work that
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: the police have done over the course of the weekend.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: So eight unlawful entries over the course of the weekend.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: That's certainly a minimization from what we've seen last week.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: What exactly have the police done to sort of to
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: try to minimize that crime.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: Well, it happens in multiple different parts, So some young
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: people choose not to do it again, some adults choose
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: not to do it again. Some people have gone back
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: to some of the areas from which they normally would reside.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Some are in custody.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: It's all different reasons for why offending occurs and why
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: it doesn't occur.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: And the police and you did say last week that
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: a number of those cars I know you mentioned it
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: just a moment ago as well, have gone out to
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: the West Daily region. What work's being done with those
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: community is to, you know, if there are young people
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: or if there are people here from that region that
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: are allegedly involved in criminal behavior, to either stop that
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: criminal behavior or get them back to their communities if
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: they're here doing the wrong thing.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of work that has been ongoing for
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: quite some time, and it's still ongoing with military, government,
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: government leadership into those communities making sure that there is
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: the opportunity for those communities to own this space and
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: deliver some culturally appropriate outcomes in relation to what is
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: a very complex environment in that West Daily region. Unfortunately,
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: it flares up from time to time and we need
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: to deal with the consequences when that occurs. Unfortunately, and
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: I know that's cold comfort for those here in Darwen
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: who are victimized by people that have come from that region.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: Doesn't justify their behavior whatsoever, It's inappropriate entirely. Continue to
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: work with the community, make sure it doesn't happen where
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: we can, and unfortunately, when it occurs, then we'll deal
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: with it as we have been doing.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner. We do seem to have seen over recent
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: weeks or months, and you and I have spoken about
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: this before, more towards the end of last year, but
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: a lot of people here in Darwin, or it seems
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: like there's a lot of people here from different communities.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Has that been the case again over the last couple
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: of months, and has there been additional work to get
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: people home if they're here and not necessarily doing the
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: right thing.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: So, since we spoke last and your listeners may find
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: this not confronting but probably incorrect. So we're seeing a
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: week on week the week prior or the same time
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: the week reflective of last year, we're seeing any social
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: behavior reporting decreasing now. That can be one of two things.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: Any social behavior is actually decreasing or the community aren't
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: reporting now. I would suggest there's an of both, and
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: I do encourage the community to report, because if we
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: don't know what's happening, then we can't deploy our resources appropriately.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: But we are still seeing lots of people return to country.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: Sixty to one hundred a week are returning to country.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: There are still people coming in. There are still still
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: the core group here that remain here and choose to
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: live rough and we manage them every day to make
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: sure that their behavior doesn't impact on the amenity of
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: the community. And it takes time sometimes and we don't
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: always get that right because we're not in the right places.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: We have a finite resource base to be able to deliver,
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: particularly in Dun. We work very closely with all our
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: partner agencies as well, so.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: We don't have a situation I guess like we did
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: towards the end of last year where I think we
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: had up to eight hundred people here from various communities
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: at one point that the police were then sort of
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: trying to deal with.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: So there's always seven hundred people living rough across Guanidal.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: We went up to last year, we went up to
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: three thousand at one point in time. We've also just
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: been through a circumstance where we've had a number of
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: folk who, through no fault of their own, had been
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: displaced from the homes and evacuated and were being managed
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: through the community a center of natural resilience that did
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: create so many social issues at times. Those folk have
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: all gone home, which is great, and hopefully we've seen
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: things stabilize a little bit.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: As a consequence, there are still a core group of
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: people here. We anticipate between eight hundred and to one thousand.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: Week on week. It's not any greater. It's just the
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: way in which those folk actually put themselves forward and
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: actually caused that confrontation in the community. That's that perception
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: piece around whether people feel safe or not.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Now, I know you mentioned before making sure that people
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: do actually report some of that anti social behavior. Again,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: it is something that you and I have discussed before.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: We've even spoken to the to the call center before,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: to the operator out there and and talked about the
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: volume of calls that they're getting each and every day,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: but we are hearing from different people that they're calling
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: through to one three, one, triple four and being told
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: that they're not able to get a unit out or
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: that they're not actually able to get someone out there.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Have you reported it online? And so in some instances
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: we've got people that are saying that they are trying
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: to report some of that behavior and they're not able
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: to get a response. So have we got an increased
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: volume of calls going through or what are your reckons
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: going on?
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: So we're not necessarily an increase in the volume of calls.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: The calls of stabilized somewhat. What I can say is
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: on a Sunday, a Monday, and a Tuesday, we have
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: a reduced call volume across the board, But on a
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: Monday and a Tuesday in dah And it's particularly busy,
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: whereas another springs without takeaway alcohol, it's not as busy.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: We have to prioritize jobs. We've had this conversation before.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: I'll give you an example. Friday night into Saturday morning,
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: we had sixty six disturbances reported to police, and we
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: had thirty three domestic violence incidents.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Each of those domestic.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: Violence incidents in Darwen are going to be prioritized over
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: the disturbances. So if you're ringing because you can see
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: something near to where you live or your business, but
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: we've got domestic violence incidents we need to respond to first,
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: they will always be prioritized. So when you're being told
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: that we don't have the capacity to attend at that
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: point in time, that's at that point in time. If
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: it continues to escalate, ring back. Sometimes police will ring
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: you back also to determine if there's any ongoing issues,
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: because we have to grade all of the calls that
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: come in, and we'll always grade what's considered a priority
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: one over what might be a Priority two or three.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: I'd be really keen at some point to get somebody
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: from the force on the show to talk a little
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: bit more about the domestic violence, you know, the concerns
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: that we have gotten the community around domestic violence and
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: some of the work that is happening, because it's something
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: that does get raised sort of by the Northern Territory
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Police very often. It's clearly a big concerned in the
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: territory and I just don't think we've got enough time
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: to get through it. This morning but something I do
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: want to just see if there's a bit of an
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: update on is over the course of the weekend. Obviously
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Police making a swift arrest following an
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: aggravated assault incident at a community event in Nightcliffe on Saturday.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Do you have much further detail about what's gone on there.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: It seems as though somebody has been arrested.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: Yes, there was an assault that occurred. The people that
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: were in that vicinity took some footage that assisted police
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: who responded almost immediately to be able to then identify
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: the offender who was then taken a custody very shortly thereafter,
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: and a forty one year old male has been charged
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: with aggravated assault in relation to that matter.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: I think it's a great example of how quickly the
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: police do work and do get out there when they
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: are required. Hey, on the situation with those vehicles being stolen,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: I know that for plenty of people. If you're on TikTok,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: you've probably seen vision of some of those vehicles being
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: stolen and some of the WOA really behavior I think of,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: you know, of people stealing cars and then taking to
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: social media and sharing that vision is that a concern
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: for the police at the moment.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Well, it's always been a concern, not just at the moment.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: It leads to copycat behavior, it leads to acceptance of
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: the behavior in certain segments of the community.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: It's not acceptable whatsoever.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: We work obviously very closely with those service providers, but
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: it's not something we can actually take down of TikTok
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: just like that, or Facebook or anyth the others.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: It's amazing to me, hey, like you know with those
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: social media platforms that there can be vision shared of
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: them breaking the law and that they don't have more
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: responsibility to get that vision down immediately when there's people
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: doing the wrong thing.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: No, not at all, And it makes our job even
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: harder as a consequence, because it glorifies the behavior and
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: it's just nothing but dangerous and disgraceful and unacceptable. It
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: actually helps us investigate these crimes too, because they don't
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: cover their phases necessarily, so we know who's doing what.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: And we use that as evidence against them.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: So we don't want them using social media, but when
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: they do, we use it against them.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well that is good to hear in that sense. Now,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: before I let you go, I know that there is
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: sort of some discussion and it is something that the
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: acting Police Commissioner had spoken about in the press conference
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: last week about police considering using one similar to what
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: are utilized in other states to search people if they've
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: potentially got knives. It seems like knife crime at the
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: moment is a big concern, like have we got a
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: real increase of people with knives on the streets or
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: not just knives but different kinds of weapons.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: Look not necessarily but it's been given more airtime, so
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: I can tell you that I've had some of my
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: colleagues have been to Queensland in the last couple of
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: weeks to assess the way in which Queensland Police went
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: through what's described as Jack's Law and how they implemented
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: that process over there. We've brought some of those lessons
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: and learnings back. There'll be further engagement this week with
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: Mari who's sitting out there, and some other people within
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: our team with the Tourney General's Department about what that
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: looks like for us. It's not just knives. Weapons can
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: be all sorts of things in the territory, and we
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: need to be able to make sure that whatever we
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: do here is applicable to our context. But it's not
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: acceptable if you are carrying an item for a particular reason,
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: but then you use it for an alternative purpose and
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: then it changes and then it becomes a weapon.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: So now before I let you go, I know that
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: you did. You'd spoken about this before, you had talked
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: about the work that the Northern Territory Police are doing
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: at the moment to try to minimize those unlawful entries
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: and the car thefts. Just for our listeners this morning,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: who are maybe thinking to themselves, you know, twenty nine
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: cars last week, thirty one unlawful entries. I think it
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: was just going back looking at those figures. What is
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: your message to them? You know, if they're thinking it
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: just seems like it's out of control. It seems as though,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: you know, these vehicles being stolen, that there's a small
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: element in the community at the moment that have no
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: respect for other people's property or for their vehicles.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, that's so very true.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: And we're our partner agency, Neighborhood Watch NT and Northern
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: Charity Police have done some messaging and it's an eight
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: point safety preparation plan in essence and without going through
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: each of the eight points, and without blaming those that
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: have been victimized themselves. Everyone needs to be aware of
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: their own personal security, whether that security is for themselves,
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: their home, their car, or their business. You need to
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: make sure that everything is locked and secure. You keep
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: valuables out of sight, and those valuables include your car keys.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: And as I've described previously, two groups of people, one
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: group that is able to hot wire an older vehicle,
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: and every other vehicle now that's got an immobilizer. The
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: only way you get that vehicle started is using the keys.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: Particularly for businesses, if you've got lots of cars parking
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: your business, say overnight or our weekend, and you have
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: your keys just sitting on the desk of someone's office,
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: you're an easy target. They'll break in, steal your keys,
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: then steal your cars, and destroy your fence and your
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: exterior as a consequence. So I asked that people have
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: to change the behavior. Unfortunately, because of a small cross
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: section of society, we need to be a little more
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: careful about making sure our own business areas and our
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: homes and our cars are secure. And you might need
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: to take your keys home on the weekend or lock
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: them somewhere else in a safe or keep them away
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: from where the actual car themselves are stored well.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner Travis Worst always appreciate your time. Thanks very
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: much for coming in this morning.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Thanks Caatie, Thank you,