Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Matt Hepworth spoke with NT Police Commander Matthew Hollamby on the latest Crime Stats

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Matt Hepworth spoke with NT Police Commander Matthew Hollamby on the latest Crime Stats · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Matt Hepworth's filling in for Caddie Wolf this morning. Well,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: on Friday, the latest Northern Territory crime statistics were released.
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  Speaker 1: To talk us through the numbers, is Northern Territory Police
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  Speaker 1: Commander Matt Hollandby Matt.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Matt, and good morning to your listeners. Matt.
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  Speaker 1: Before we get into the numbers, can you tell us
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  Speaker 1: what period these latest statistics are for.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Matt, the current statistics are for the period of
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  Speaker 3: May March, sorry, first of April twenty twenty through to
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  Speaker 3: the end of March twenty twenty one. So essentially that's
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  Speaker 3: the pandemic period, and we are comparing that with the
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  Speaker 3: twelve months before the pandemic. So yeah, it's sort of
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  Speaker 3: a reflection of what happened, and what's really going to
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  Speaker 3: be interesting is what happens in the next twelve months.
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  Speaker 3: So in May twenty twenty two, when we were having
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: this same conversation, we'll be saying, well, you know, this
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: is what's happened since the pandemic.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it certainly will be a reflection as to how
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: our lives have changed. And we're looking at the pandemic
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: twelve months ago. Here we are now, and then what's
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  Speaker 1: going to change over the next twelve months. I guess
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  Speaker 1: we'll be able to reflect on in twelve months time.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, and I think at some point in the
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: years to come somebody will do a thesis on this
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  Speaker 3: at university just to say what happened and how it
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  Speaker 3: affected the social structure of our community.
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  Speaker 1: Looking at these statistics from Friday, here's there's been a
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  Speaker 1: steady increase across the Northern Territory and crime against the person,
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  Speaker 1: but a decrease in crime against property. Can you talk
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  Speaker 1: us through some of those numbers.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, across the Northern Territory, property crime is down
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  Speaker 3: in most major centers and assaults are up and that
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  Speaker 3: you know, there's obviously variations between that. In Darwin, which
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  Speaker 3: is Darwin and the northern suburbs, the total number of
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  Speaker 3: property fences is down by twenty two percent and that's
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  Speaker 3: the lowest twelve month period numbers recorded since in the
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  Speaker 3: last twenty years. So you know, we had a period
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  Speaker 3: during the pandemic for six months where there was little
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  Speaker 3: to no crime at all. Obviously it has it's gone
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  Speaker 3: up since since September last year, so you know, remarkable
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  Speaker 3: lows in property crime Palmsten total property offenses are down
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  Speaker 3: by twenty six percent as well, so on the property front,
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  Speaker 3: really really good news. But bearing in mind that it
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  Speaker 3: does include that six month period where there was lockdowns
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  Speaker 3: and that was very very little to no crime.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: On the other hand, unfortunately, though, during that same period,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: crimes against the person increase.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, they did quite dramatically and very sadly. That included
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  Speaker 3: domestic violence and alcohol fuel domestic violence. You know, we've
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  Speaker 3: certainly got our work cut out for us in terms of,
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  Speaker 3: you know, some our alcohol policy and you know, pretty
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  Speaker 3: sad when somebody thinks it's okay to assault a family member.
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  Speaker 3: So from our perspective, we have a very pro prosecution
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  Speaker 3: approach domestic violence. And if you think it's okay to
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  Speaker 3: assault your family a family member, we think differently and
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  Speaker 3: we will prosecute you for it.
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  Speaker 1: Could some of those increases when we talk about domestic
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  Speaker 1: violence increases also be related to the lockdown, The fact
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  Speaker 1: that we see crime against property eat down, the fact
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  Speaker 1: that people obviously weren't out in the community so much
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  Speaker 1: anymore committing property crimes, but sadly it was happening within
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  Speaker 1: our own four walls in lockdown.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, and there was a lot of things that
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  Speaker 3: were different during that lockdown period. You know, there was
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  Speaker 3: a lockdown, so more people were at home, and also
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  Speaker 3: there was job caeper job seeper seeker, the stress of
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: being unemployed. You know, there's a lot of different factors
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  Speaker 3: that would have contributed to that. But at the end
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  Speaker 3: of the day, it's not acceptable and you know, we
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  Speaker 3: will work with our partners to intervene and reduce the
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  Speaker 3: assault rates into the future.
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  Speaker 1: We saw a report probably about a month or so
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  Speaker 1: ago now from Matt Cunningham and the NT News and
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  Speaker 1: he'd done some research looking into the effects that COVID
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  Speaker 1: payments have had, particularly in Central Australia as well, and
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  Speaker 1: some of the damage that was doing in the communities.
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  Speaker 1: Do these latest crime statistics support that as well.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think it's a part of it definitely.
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  Speaker 3: You know, it was a high stress time for everyone,
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  Speaker 3: you know, the lockdown, not knowing what the future is
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  Speaker 3: going to hold for us. I think one of the
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  Speaker 3: really really disturbing things is we we know there's a
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  Speaker 3: link between property crime and violent crime. All of our
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  Speaker 3: high end recidivivus youth offenders are all the products of
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: been exposed to domestic violence from a very very early age.
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  Speaker 3: So I mean it's you know, it might not necessarily
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  Speaker 3: be the demographic of your listeners, but you know there
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  Speaker 3: is a there is a tangible link there. So which
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  Speaker 3: is which is really sad that kids aren't brought up
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  Speaker 3: in a in a loving family environment and they go
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  Speaker 3: on to commit properly crimes.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I think I heard put quite simply by a commentator recently.
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  Speaker 1: They said, you know, it's something obviously fundamentally wrong at home.
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  Speaker 1: If you've got ten year olds on the street at
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  Speaker 1: two am and they think that is a safer and
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  Speaker 1: a better place for them to be, there's obviously something
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  Speaker 1: quite broken at home.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely. And look, you know we are products of
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  Speaker 2: our environment.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, if you think about your life, you have
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  Speaker 3: those really annoying traits that your parents had.
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  Speaker 2: I know I have.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, if you're raised in a horrible environment
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  Speaker 3: and you have those traits of your mother or your
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  Speaker 3: father or your guardian, generational, it's a generational thing. I
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  Speaker 3: think somebody described it as genetic pain. But so you know,
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  Speaker 3: there is a need for early intervention as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, there has been some high presence police operations in
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  Speaker 1: Darwin over the last few months. My mind comes back
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  Speaker 1: to that school holiday blitz around Casurina. Has this helped
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  Speaker 1: reduce crime? When we're looking at the statistics, has there
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: been an increase due to the fact that there's actually
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  Speaker 1: more arrests as a result of some of these operations.
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  Speaker 3: Look, our job is to identify crime trends and intervene
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  Speaker 3: at an early stage. We're talking about hot spots resided
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  Speaker 3: as defenders crime series. So what we do is we
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  Speaker 3: try to identify these issues as early as we can
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  Speaker 3: and take a positive intervention to reduce them. The Casuarina
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  Speaker 3: Square Casina Village operation that it started out as a
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  Speaker 3: series of shopliftings from bottle shops and some were youth,
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  Speaker 3: some weren't, and when security challenged the person's shoplifting, there
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  Speaker 3: was a violent reaction. So you know, what turned from
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: a shoplifting could ultimately turn into a robbery. So there
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  Speaker 3: was a series within a very few days and we
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  Speaker 3: implemented an operation and arrested quite a few people for
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  Speaker 3: those types of fences. We discovered some medio social behavior
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  Speaker 3: issues which were consequential and dealt with those as well.
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  Speaker 3: So that particular issue has about it for now, but
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  Speaker 3: it's one of those things that we just can't take
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  Speaker 3: our eye off the ball.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. More recently, Matt, there was a story in the
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  Speaker 1: Ant News over the weekend about Basing the Grass festival
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  Speaker 1: goers ditching drugs due to the sniffer dogs that were there.
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  Speaker 1: Can you tell us what happened there?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was kind of funny, but.
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  Speaker 3: People who were entering Base in the Grass, there were
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  Speaker 3: a couple of places where there was a drug dog
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  Speaker 3: screening people coming in. The drug dog did find detect
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  Speaker 3: made a number of detections, but you know, there were
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  Speaker 3: a number of people that had drugs that threw them
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  Speaker 3: onto the ground just as they were queuing up and yeah,
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  Speaker 3: so they was kindly placed them there where we could
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  Speaker 3: see them, and we went and picked them up.
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  Speaker 1: Were able to link it back to anyone at all?
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  Speaker 1: Or was it just that they found them on the
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  Speaker 1: ground because they ditched them so they couldn't be linked
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  Speaker 1: back to them.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, obviously they didn't want to say, to be introduced
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  Speaker 3: to the drug detected dogs and discarded their drugs. So,
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  Speaker 3: you know, drugs, these types of drugs are not made
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  Speaker 3: by chemists, they're not made in sanitary conditions. You really
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  Speaker 3: really don't know what's in them, so we urge you
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  Speaker 3: not to take them because you know, we've seen the
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  Speaker 3: results at other festivals inter state where there's been mass
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  Speaker 3: overdoses and mass and in the worst case scenario, a
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  Speaker 3: number of deaths as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, just moving on to another issue, mat there was
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  Speaker 1: reports of a lot of alcohol related antisocial behavior at
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  Speaker 1: mindele Beach. Has that calmed down since that alcohol ban
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  Speaker 1: was put in place?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, we worked with counsel and OURCA nation on
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  Speaker 3: that particular issue.
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  Speaker 2: There was there was a large.
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  Speaker 3: Number of people in town from outside, from remote areas
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  Speaker 3: and that seemed to be a congregation place. There were
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  Speaker 3: some really distinct being any social behavior there. So the
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  Speaker 3: Darwin Police Station implemented an operation using our partners and
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  Speaker 3: targeted it quite strongly for a couple of weeks, and
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  Speaker 3: a part of that was the council were working with us.
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  Speaker 3: We wrote a letter to the council asking for alcohol
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  Speaker 3: to be restricted there and it has come down quite
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  Speaker 3: substantially since then.
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  Speaker 1: Were there any arrests or charges later as a result
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  Speaker 1: of some of that behavior that was going on there?
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  Speaker 2: There was I don't have details in front of me.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, we're talking up to two hundred people
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  Speaker 3: congregating there and drinking and carrying on, and it got
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  Speaker 3: a little bit untidy. But again it was about early
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  Speaker 3: intervention and using a partnership approach, which is what we
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  Speaker 3: did to tidy it up.
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  Speaker 1: There was fears that that behavior could be just moved elsewhere.
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  Speaker 1: Has that been the case at all?
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  Speaker 3: Look, I don't think so. I think some of it,
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  Speaker 3: A small amount of it may have. But a lot
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  Speaker 3: of the people from out of town, we were repatriated through
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: Larkia Nation to their home community, So that was a
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  Speaker 3: positive outcome.
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  Speaker 1: To Comander Matt hollanb be just before you go, is
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  Speaker 1: there anything else we should know about or any major
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: police operations coming up?
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: Look, it was road Safety Week last week. Obviously it
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: didn't start out well, but you know, and my condolences
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: to the family of the lady that died. You know,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: it's coming up to the tourist season, so just be
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: careful on the roads.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we've heard reports that we've got caravan parks that
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: are completely booked out. A lot of tourists in town
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: hard to get a rental car around the city at
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: the moment. So yeah, it sounds like I've heard reports.
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  Speaker 1: I know you're a long term territory and this is
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the busiest we've seen the probably Darwin and the Territory
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: for our tourist season since twenty twelve. Would you agree with.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: That sentiment, Yeah, I think so.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: I mean, like I've done a lot of time in
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: Catherine and I know some of their caravan parks have
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: booked out years in advance, but at key times.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: But yeah, no, it's it's.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: Like the Base in the Grass and the other concert
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  Speaker 3: before that. They show that you can have a concert
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  Speaker 3: type scenario where there's little to no trouble. So that's
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: you know, it's a really positive thing, and we hope
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: for the other major events coming up, you know Vo
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: Supercars and you know the Darwin Cup, they are equally
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  Speaker 3: as well behaved.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's encouraging to see.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: It's a good thing.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police Commander Matt Hollandby will have to leave
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: it there. Thank you so much for your time this morning.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Always a pleasure, mate,