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Katie Woolf spoke with NT Police Association President Paul McCue · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf on Mix one oh four
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  Speaker 1: point nine thanks to Joyce Main Darwin.
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  Speaker 2: You are listening to Mix oneow four point nine's three
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  Speaker 2: point sixty and we are coming to you live today
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  Speaker 2: from the Darwin Waterfront for one of the very popular
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  Speaker 2: driver signing sessions. If you are keen to get all
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  Speaker 2: your merch signed, well you want to get it done
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  Speaker 2: here early. I know there's going to be a lineup,
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  Speaker 2: but one o'clock is when it all kicks off. There
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  Speaker 2: will be a welcome to country for the drivers and
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  Speaker 2: the riders at twelve fifty five and it is.
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  Speaker 3: All part of well a lot.
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  Speaker 2: Of wonderful activities lined up in the lead up to
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  Speaker 2: the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown. It's going to be a
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  Speaker 2: fantastic weekend, there is no doubt about it. Now we
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  Speaker 2: know the Northern Territory Police Association, well they've condemned a
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  Speaker 2: disgusting attack on police well earlier in the week. A
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  Speaker 2: police officer was spat on three times this week and
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  Speaker 2: they're also asking why the Northern Territory Government has not
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  Speaker 2: yet increased sentencing for assaults on their members. Now joining
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  Speaker 2: me on the line to talk more about the situation
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  Speaker 2: is the Northern Territory Police Association President Paul mchughue, good
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  Speaker 2: morning to you.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 3: Well, tell me a little bit more about these latest assaults.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty vile, disgusting attack yet again on one of
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  Speaker 1: our officers. It occurred down in one of our remote
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  Speaker 1: communities in central Australia where an officer was doing a
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  Speaker 1: valuable thing and that is taking a drink driver off
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  Speaker 1: the road and in the course of that of that
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  Speaker 1: apprehension and arrest, another person who was failing to follow
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  Speaker 1: police directions attacked one of our officers by refusing to
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  Speaker 1: move on, resisting and then turning around and spitting three
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  Speaker 1: times in that officer's face, striking them on the forehead
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  Speaker 1: and then in both eyes. Believe it or not, And
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  Speaker 1: that putrid act obviously means now that officer has to
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  Speaker 1: go and be tested and waiting to determine sorry, if
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  Speaker 1: they've contracted a communical disease. It's a filthy, disgusting attack.
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  Speaker 1: And once again we're still waiting on increased sentencing provisions
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  Speaker 1: for people who take it upon themselves to attack our
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  Speaker 1: hard working frontline police.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we do know the volume of assaults that
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  Speaker 2: we've seen on the police over the last twelve months.
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  Speaker 2: It is incredibly high.
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  Speaker 1: It is. Look, it's on average been around two hundred
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  Speaker 1: and forty five a year for a period of time.
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  Speaker 1: It's looking like potentially going higher than that now. And
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  Speaker 1: I mean, we know there's been a lot of alcohol
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  Speaker 1: related harm in our community. We know that's on the rise,
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  Speaker 1: we know there's been a lot of work gone into that,
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  Speaker 1: but it's still not making a difference in terms of
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  Speaker 1: the alcohol related harm out there. And of course the
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  Speaker 1: police at the front line of the response of that,
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  Speaker 1: and they're copying it in more ways than one and physically,
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  Speaker 1: verbally and mentally suffering as a result. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: there's got to be some action taken. We've spoken about
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  Speaker 1: this for many years. I've spoken again to the Minister
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  Speaker 1: last week about it, and we wait patiently. But the
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  Speaker 1: patients is running thin because our members are coming to
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  Speaker 1: us now saying they're fed up with the lack of
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  Speaker 1: action in this space.
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  Speaker 3: And so, what exactly do you want to see here.
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  Speaker 2: I know that this is something you and I have
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  Speaker 2: spoken about on a number of occasions, Paul, but you
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  Speaker 2: said you met with the Minister last week.
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  Speaker 3: What did you say to her.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, obviously the maximum penalties for results on police
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  Speaker 1: and frontline workers is quite strong. It's those minimum penalties
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  Speaker 1: under the Sentencing Act which need reviewing urgently. And we've
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  Speaker 1: spoken previously about our submissions to the Law Reform Committee
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  Speaker 1: around this issue, and right now, you know, at the
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  Speaker 1: very minimum, an actual term of imprisonment can simply be
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  Speaker 1: overnight in the police watchhouse or when the court, or
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  Speaker 1: turning up to the court and they walk out. There's
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  Speaker 1: no minimum term. And if you're causing harm to an
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  Speaker 1: officer who's simply they're protecting our community, I'm sorry, but
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  Speaker 1: there needs to be a strong message from the courts
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  Speaker 1: through the sentencing that that's not going to be tolerated
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  Speaker 1: and it doesn't make community expectations. And I'm sure you
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  Speaker 1: and many others out there would agree that anyone who
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  Speaker 1: wants to raise their hand or spit out a police
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  Speaker 1: officer just doing their job, I'm sorry, you deserve a
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  Speaker 1: period of imprisonment and that's still yet to be taken
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  Speaker 1: taken up.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and the thing is, you know, we feel for
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  Speaker 2: our police officers. I know you know that we've also
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  Speaker 2: heard about assaults on our ambulance officers, our paramedics, our
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  Speaker 2: frontline worker is more generally, I do think that there
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  Speaker 2: needs to be a closer look into this space to
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  Speaker 2: make sure that there's a strong deterrent to stop people
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  Speaker 2: from assaulting those on the front line.
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  Speaker 3: It's a no brainer.
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  Speaker 1: It's a no brainer, isn't it. I mean, and you're right, well,
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  Speaker 1: obviously we're talking about police and we represent our sworn
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  Speaker 1: members of the police force, but obviously all the other
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  Speaker 1: frontline workers as well that copit. But certainly there needs
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  Speaker 1: to be some action. And we're about to survey our
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  Speaker 1: membership once again and there'll be some questions on this,
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  Speaker 1: and we'll be very keen to get the results of
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  Speaker 1: those of that survey back.
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  Speaker 2: Paul, When is that survey happening and how many officers
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  Speaker 2: are you expecting to take part?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Look, traditionally, you know, as our surveys get a
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  Speaker 1: fairly strong response, we'll get at least fifty percent return rate,
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  Speaker 1: which is very high when you're doing surveys, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: we're very keen to obviously get that underway as soon
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  Speaker 1: as possible. We anticipate by the end of this month
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  Speaker 1: or early July that survey will be pushed out, so
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  Speaker 1: hopefully next month will have some results to talk about.
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  Speaker 2: Now, Paul, I do want to ask you about a
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  Speaker 2: report in the NTI Independence which has also been raised
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  Speaker 2: with me by police officers by a couple of officers
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  Speaker 2: since being published. It was reported earlier in the week
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  Speaker 2: that one of the police squads have been told that
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  Speaker 2: if they arrest a child under fourteen years of our
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  Speaker 2: each and cannot provide evidence that the officer knew there
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  Speaker 2: well that the offenders, sorry knew their actions were wrong,
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  Speaker 2: the investigating officer will be referred to the EYEKAC.
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  Speaker 3: Has this been raised with you by members?
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  Speaker 1: Look, it hasn't been raised directly with us. I know
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  Speaker 1: it's certainly something that I know there was a conversation
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  Speaker 1: that took place, and I guess we really don't know
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  Speaker 1: what contexts that conversation took place in. But I guess
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  Speaker 1: you've got to remember, you know, police swear an oath
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  Speaker 1: or a firm an oath to faithfully discharge their duties
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  Speaker 1: acting good faith. Their job is prevented to take crime. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if they believe on reasonable grounds and offenses being committed,
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  Speaker 1: they must take action. Now. If that's a youth or
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  Speaker 1: an adult, it doesn't matter. And obviously when you come
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  Speaker 1: across across a youth, there's some considerable restrictions around being
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  Speaker 1: able to obtain a conversation from that youth without having
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  Speaker 1: a responsible that old person. You're going to make certain notifications,
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  Speaker 1: and if that youth decides not to talk, the officer
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  Speaker 1: then has to try and obtain as much evidence as
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  Speaker 1: possible to demonstrate that you've understood what they were doing
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  Speaker 1: was wrong. Now, it's not up to the officer to
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  Speaker 1: make that determination. They simply have a job to do.
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  Speaker 1: And if there's any inference that they're being threatened to
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  Speaker 1: say that, you'll be sent to I don't understand how
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  Speaker 1: that could be corrupt behavior, But they're simply executing their duties.
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  Speaker 1: Putting a person before the court is then up to
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  Speaker 1: the court to determine if there's sufficient evidence to find
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  Speaker 1: that offense proved. So, look, we don't know what the
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  Speaker 1: context of that conversation was. You know, our officers do
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  Speaker 1: a great job. They're simply there to do their job,
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  Speaker 1: and if they actually identify crimes being committed and they
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  Speaker 1: believe someone's responsible, then they have to take action, and
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  Speaker 1: they should take action and they shouldn't feel threatened in
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  Speaker 1: doing their job at all.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I was going to say, don't they
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  Speaker 2: have a duty of care to the victims as well?
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  Speaker 2: But also in some ways if we are talking about children,
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  Speaker 2: if they are out on the straight and if they
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  Speaker 2: are doing the wrong thing, I mean, isn't the I mean,
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  Speaker 2: there is a duty of care obviously to the victims
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  Speaker 2: and to the community.
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  Speaker 1: Correct. And you know, let's not forget you've got a
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  Speaker 1: youth running around on the streets unsupervised or without without guardianship.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, we don't want to be in a
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  Speaker 1: situation where police are too frightened to take action because
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  Speaker 1: they feel there are going to be put under the
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  Speaker 1: spotlight for failing to take action. You know, it just
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  Speaker 1: seems ludicrous that we're in a situation where this might
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  Speaker 1: be the case. Now, again, we don't know what the
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  Speaker 1: context of this conversation was, but we can only encourage
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  Speaker 1: our members to keep doing their job in good faith
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  Speaker 1: protecting the community, which we all know they do a
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  Speaker 1: great job. Of any suggestion or a threat that by
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  Speaker 1: not taking that action, or by actually taking action, you
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  Speaker 1: might end up before the Corruption Commission. I mean, that's
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  Speaker 1: just ludicrous. It's nonsense, and police should be allowed to
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  Speaker 1: do that job. You can't tell an officer what to
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  Speaker 1: do in terms of making an arrest to them individually,
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  Speaker 1: and they should feel confident that they can do that
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  Speaker 1: without interference.
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  Speaker 2: Now, I do want to ask you as well this
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  Speaker 2: morning about the school based police. Where are we at
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  Speaker 2: with their return? I know a few of them have
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  Speaker 2: gone back, but where are we at as well in
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  Speaker 2: terms of that. Going over to the role of auxiliaries.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're still obviously in some heavy discussions with the
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  Speaker 1: Department in relation to that. We know that the government
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  Speaker 1: and the department are on a timeline they would like
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  Speaker 1: to see some action in terms of term three. Look
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  Speaker 1: where it's still far from reaching agreement on that. We
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  Speaker 1: are in heavy discussion. We conscious there are members' jobs
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  Speaker 1: on the line here. We've got constables in those roles
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  Speaker 1: at the moment who are sitting there wondering what's going on.
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  Speaker 1: We've got auxiliaries potentially who are looking and saying well,
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  Speaker 1: I wouldn't mind doing that role. But industrially, there's still
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  Speaker 1: a bit to sort out there and we're obviously still
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  Speaker 1: in those discussions. So we can't give you a definite
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  Speaker 1: advancer yet all.
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  Speaker 2: Right well, Police Association President Paul McHugh, we will leave
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  Speaker 2: it there for now, but no doubt CHAUT with.
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  Speaker 3: You again very soon. Thanks for your time
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  Speaker 1: Today, go on you Thanks Hodie chest