Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Police Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst talks police staffing rates in the face of Covid challenges, and whether the force is coping

Transcript

Police Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst talks police staffing rates in the face of Covid challenges, and whether the force is coping · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Has been an issue which has been well documented on
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: this show. Police understrain juggling everyday duties while managing COVID responsibilities.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: It's a concern that we spoke extensively about last year,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and one which continues into twenty twenty two, with Police
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Association President Paul mcue penning an opinion piece in the
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  Speaker 1: Sunday Territorium saying that exhausted officers are being spread dangerously
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: thin as the burden of COVID nineteen enforcement adds extra
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: mental stress to the Northern Territory Police depleted ranks. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Mister McHugh said that officers were reporting back instances where
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: even the highest of priority jobs were taking hours to
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  Speaker 1: respond to. Now joining me on the line is the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst. Good morning to
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: you morning, Katie. How are you very well now, Assistant Commissioner.
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  Speaker 1: Yesterday border controls were dropped and testing requirements for interstate
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  Speaker 1: and international travelers no longer in place have an impact
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to policing in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: Right now, of course it will so at the moment
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  Speaker 2: we still have twenty police officers committed to the border
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  Speaker 2: control points. It will take twenty four to forty eight
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  Speaker 2: hours or so to be able to wind those points
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  Speaker 2: back to make sure the infrastructure is decommissioned, and those
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  Speaker 2: offices will then move back to their stations and then
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  Speaker 2: be placed back into their normal duties and roles as
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  Speaker 2: everything else changes with the COVID environment. So I the
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  Speaker 2: twenty for decentner last year, the territory opened up, and
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  Speaker 2: we've seen the territory shift through this living with the
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  Speaker 2: COVID days of its journey, and we're seeing obviously COVID
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  Speaker 2: impact in the community across the territory. We still require
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  Speaker 2: police presence and support in the communities where this lock
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  Speaker 2: ens and lockdowns, but as we move through those as well,
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  Speaker 2: because there are seven day periods generally rolling, we'll see
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  Speaker 2: the territory slowly move through this COVID and become as
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  Speaker 2: we most urban areas are highly vaccinated, as all the
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  Speaker 2: urban remote areas sorry to become highly vaccinated as well.
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  Speaker 2: And our ability to live with OMICRON as the current
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  Speaker 2: COVID variant that it's predominant the territory, we're able to
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  Speaker 2: then move most of those resources back to what their
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  Speaker 2: specifical original purpose.
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  Speaker 1: May have been so at the moment, how many officers
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  Speaker 1: have been dealing with the COVID pandemic. I know that
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  Speaker 1: you mentioned twenty on those borders, but there had been
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  Speaker 1: claims that it was up to one hundred.
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  Speaker 2: So I read a claim that it was up to
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  Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty. That may well have been in
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  Speaker 2: the very early days in twenty twenty when we had
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  Speaker 2: biosecurity all over the territory. But at the moment where
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  Speaker 2: we have over one hundred committed to COVID related activities
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  Speaker 2: across the territory and they're working in the operations center
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  Speaker 2: both in Darwen and in our springs. We also have
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  Speaker 2: lots of frontline members who are operating in the remote
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  Speaker 2: communities where the blockhouns to support those remote police. But
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  Speaker 2: as we as we start to move through this, a
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  Speaker 2: lot of those people were drawn back to the normal
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  Speaker 2: roles and will provide ongoing rotation support to the frontline
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  Speaker 2: members in remote areas from urban areas such as traffic patrols,
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  Speaker 2: so that it's more about normalizing our business and living
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  Speaker 2: with COVID as opposed to the spoken response we've had
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  Speaker 2: to provide ups to this point because of the risk
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  Speaker 2: that COVID is posed to our community.
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  Speaker 1: And I guess no matter how you look at it, it
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  Speaker 1: is a large number. I mean, more than one hundred
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  Speaker 1: is a large number of officers. According to the Police Association,
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  Speaker 1: a survey which they conducted, they say that more than
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  Speaker 1: eighty percent of officers reported an increasing duty since the
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  Speaker 1: start of the pandemic. What kind of impact does it
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  Speaker 1: have on officers doing their day jobs?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'm not sure that eighty percent increase in their
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  Speaker 2: members are sorry their duties would actually mean, but that
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  Speaker 2: make no mistake. It has had an It's placed increased
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: pressure on our frontline workforce, our investcative workforce, everyone within
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  Speaker 2: the agency because we've had to manage this threat that
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  Speaker 2: we hadn't seen privacy, this pandemic as well as managing
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: our frontline response. And as a consequence of COVID, we
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  Speaker 2: did see an increase in croninal activity at times, increase
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  Speaker 2: in disposable income, we increase that access to alcohol, increase
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  Speaker 2: in transience and that changed the way in which policing
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  Speaker 2: had to be managed in certain areas. So it has
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  Speaker 2: been a really challenging period, but we had enough staff
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  Speaker 2: to do what we need to do, we'd move our
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  Speaker 2: staff to where the need arises. We know that there
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  Speaker 2: are at times when COVID has caused us to have
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  Speaker 2: depleted resources in certain locations. I can tell you that
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  Speaker 2: as of yesterday, the DNA frontline team have ten people
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  Speaker 2: who are unavailable because of COVID related matters. So there's
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  Speaker 2: ten frontline people that we don't have for a period
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  Speaker 2: of time while they get through the impact of COVID
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  Speaker 2: on those individual Does.
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  Speaker 1: That then have a big impact? You know, when you
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  Speaker 1: talk about people responding to jobs, I mean if like,
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  Speaker 1: let's for an example, you know, somebody is broken into
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  Speaker 1: or they've got somebody trying to break into their home,
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  Speaker 1: they call the police. If the police are busy at
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  Speaker 1: dealing with COVID matters, does it mean that there is
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  Speaker 1: a delay in terms of somebody heading out to a job.
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  Speaker 2: No, there's two different things at play here. So the
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  Speaker 2: front line is the front line, and everyone working on
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  Speaker 2: COVID is off doing COVID. The front line is still there.
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  Speaker 2: I've read the information around one van for the day
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  Speaker 2: and CBD that's actually never the case. You and I
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  Speaker 2: discussed this previously, that there might be a situation that
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  Speaker 2: happens very infrequently where there might only be one van
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  Speaker 2: for a particular area, but that one van is never
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  Speaker 2: working in isolation. There's always across a whole Greater Dan
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  Speaker 2: area several other police vehicles, whether they be vans. We
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  Speaker 2: don't just use police vans, supervisor vehicles, RULs, watch commander people.
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  Speaker 2: There's lots of police presence across the Greater Dayne area,
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  Speaker 2: and sometimes we do have multiple competing priorities, which means
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  Speaker 2: at times there will be some delays and responses, but
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  Speaker 2: we will get to every job as quickly as we
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  Speaker 2: possibly tempt to make sure that the community service accordingly.
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  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner, are investigations being delayed as a result of
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  Speaker 1: officers being drawn to COVID jobs.
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  Speaker 2: I've read that also, and I'm not sure that's a
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  Speaker 2: reference to I would suggest not. We are doing everything
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  Speaker 2: we can to provide that same service that we've always done.
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  Speaker 2: We are under pressure at times with resourcing, absolutely, but
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  Speaker 2: that's when we look at our entire workforce. We don't
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  Speaker 2: look at one deal area in isolation. We look at
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  Speaker 2: the entire workforce and will move our workforce to where
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  Speaker 2: we need at at any bording time to make sure
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  Speaker 2: that we're the meeting demand where demand is now. I
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  Speaker 2: think a perfect sorry, a perfect example of that. These
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  Speaker 2: other springs through some challenging times in the recent past,
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  Speaker 2: and we've deployed additional resources from Dala down to our
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  Speaker 2: springs to support that community. And that's a perfect example
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  Speaker 2: of what that means. When the need arises, we will
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: listen to what's going on, observe it, and meet the
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  Speaker 2: needed that the community expects us to deliver.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, look, that situation in Alice Springs is one which
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  Speaker 1: has been well documented. But we also know that the
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  Speaker 1: mayor of Alice Springs obviously writing to various politicians around
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  Speaker 1: the country really calling for additional help. How under stress
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  Speaker 1: are our offices in Alice Springs at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: It's an interesting I've set of circumstances. So every time,
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  Speaker 2: every year, sorry, the summer occurs in other springs, and
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  Speaker 2: every year we see a surge of people into our springs.
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  Speaker 2: Whether events have an impact on that community activity or
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  Speaker 2: cultural activity has an impact on that. This is no different.
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  Speaker 2: We've seen a spike or a surge in people coming
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  Speaker 2: to our springs and increase criminal or negative activity as
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  Speaker 2: a consequence, and as I say we've dealt with it,
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  Speaker 2: and we've seen a lot of that activity already come
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  Speaker 2: off that peak. Seventeen police officers would appelled from Darwin,
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  Speaker 2: and I believe there were ten additional recruit staff starting
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  Speaker 2: there last week. Salor Springs has plenty of staff to
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  Speaker 2: do with it, as any situation with rich community.
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  Speaker 1: Is it a situation though in Alice Springs where it's
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  Speaker 1: not actually an issue of there not being enough police police,
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  Speaker 1: but there's actually not enough other support services.
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  Speaker 2: I can't necessarily comment on what the other support services are.
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  Speaker 2: But what I do though is police work extremely close
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  Speaker 2: to all of our counterparts in our springs, actually across
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  Speaker 2: the terrify. It doesn't matter where it is, because none
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  Speaker 2: of the issues that we speak of police only issues.
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  Speaker 2: Every issue has a causation and that causation is what
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  Speaker 2: we need to address. And we've spent a lot of
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  Speaker 2: time working with our government and non government partners to
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  Speaker 2: be able to identify an issue, work through a solution,
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  Speaker 2: and then make sure that that's actually having a level
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  Speaker 2: of sustainability for that particular issue, community area, whatever it
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  Speaker 2: may be. So we need to continue to work with everyone.
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  Speaker 2: It's not about parting blame on anyone here. We all
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  Speaker 2: need to come to the party. Every agency needs to
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  Speaker 2: stump up, get in and make sure that we can
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  Speaker 2: do everything we can atis community.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Assistant Commissioner, we are fast running out of time,
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  Speaker 1: but I do want to ask you a couple of
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  Speaker 1: quick questions. I've got one from a listener here. It says,
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  Speaker 1: if there are one hundred police that are being used
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  Speaker 1: on COVID duties, how can we say that that's not
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  Speaker 1: having an impact on the front line.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't say it wasn't having an impact. I've acknowledged
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  Speaker 2: that it's having an impact, but all of those hundred
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  Speaker 2: police officers aren't coming from the front line. We've got investigators,
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  Speaker 2: We've got auxiliary staff. Were are lots of people who
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  Speaker 2: are operating in the COVID space, and we know that
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  Speaker 2: we've had to turn some things off in the back
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  Speaker 2: ends for example, and Darlad, we're running only one watchhouse
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  Speaker 2: so that able to READI play our other staff to
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: make sure that where we have had COVID staff deployed,
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  Speaker 2: we have sufficient resources to cover those particular gaps we've created,
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  Speaker 2: so our front caunters have reduced hours as well. There
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: are little things we've had to do to be able
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  Speaker 2: to nuance the balance. But our front line is to
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  Speaker 2: our priority and our commitment, and we'll continue to support
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  Speaker 2: the community. We'll continue to push resources to where they
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  Speaker 2: need to go, and we'll continue to make sure we've
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  Speaker 2: got enough staff to support our community across the territory.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Now, there are plenty of other issues around the place
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  Speaker 1: that I am keen to speak about at some point,
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  Speaker 1: but we might have to hold those off for another day.
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  Speaker 1: I do want to ask you before I let you go.
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  Speaker 1: Is community safety being jeopardized because because in some cases
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  Speaker 1: you may be short staffed.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I don't suggest we're doing short staffed, And we
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: have a grading system. Every time a job is callding
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: to our Joint Emergency Service Communications Center, it's graded already
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: one to a priority five. If it's a Priority one,
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  Speaker 2: it'll get priority regardless of where that is in the territory.
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  Speaker 2: Every remote police station is staffed. Every police station on
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  Speaker 2: the territory start. So when we say short stuff, I
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: don't accept that that's the case. As I say, we
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: have had instances where we have had reduced starting numbers,
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: probably because of the actual physical impact of COVID people
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: being infected, impacting our workforce in certain areas. But again
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: we will continue to move our resources around to make
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: sure we've got sufficient coverage to support our community. Challenging time,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: but we're working through it. We want to continue to
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: work with the community and take them along with us
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: on this ride with us to get come out the
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: other side of COVID.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: All right, Northern Territory Police Assistant Commissioner Travis Willis, we
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: are going to have to leave it there. I appreciate
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: your time this morning. Thank you so much.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Thanks Beattie Brother