Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Police Association President Paul McCue is calling for urgent action to keep officers safe after two police cars were rammed in Katherine overnight

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NT Police Association President Paul McCue is calling for urgent action to keep officers safe after two police cars were rammed in Katherine overnight · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Absolutely chaotic scenes out of Catherine overnight. Well, here's a
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: bit of the audio, and Northern Territory Police are indeed
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: calling for witnesses after two stolen cars were used to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: ram two police vehicles overnight. Police were notified about eleven
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: pm that these two stolen cars were being driven by
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  Speaker 1: youths in a reckless manner in various locations throughout Catherine.
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  Speaker 1: Soon after, while stationary on Catherine Terrace, two police vehicles
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  Speaker 1: were rammed, causing significant damage. Fortunately no one was injured
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: or no injuries were sustained by the police or civilians,
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  Speaker 1: and the offenders fled the scene in a second car.
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  Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line to tell us a
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  Speaker 1: little bit more about what's happened is the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: Police Association President Paul mceue.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Paul, Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 3: Paul.
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  Speaker 1: Horrifying scenes out of Catherine. I think it'd be safe
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  Speaker 1: to say.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it looked terrible, abhorrent and unacceptable scenes. You know,
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  Speaker 3: once again, sadly seeing some youth out late at night
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  Speaker 3: using a vehicle, weaponizing that vehicle against property and people.
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  Speaker 3: You know, disgusting behavior and of course you know the
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  Speaker 3: footage itself was frightening to look at yet alone experience
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  Speaker 3: firsthand and imagine being there when that took place, really
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  Speaker 3: really dangerous situation. Once again, confronted by our officers.
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  Speaker 2: How are those police officers today?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, thankfully no injuries. They weren't. I believe we're
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: not in the vehicle. Obviously, there's still an active investigation
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  Speaker 3: underway in relation to what took place overall in the
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  Speaker 3: town last night. But certainly, once again we've seen our
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: police targeted by youths in a vehicle. We know it
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  Speaker 3: took place in our springs last week, and here we
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: are again talking about it and really dangerous situations. And
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  Speaker 3: what do we see in that footage At the moment
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  Speaker 3: that vehicle collided with those police vehicles, we saw our
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: officers running towards the danger, trying to deal with that
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  Speaker 3: as best as they can. I mean, that's how brave
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  Speaker 3: they are. They run to it and they deal with
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  Speaker 3: it on behalf of our community. So we need to
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  Speaker 3: be looking after.
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  Speaker 2: Them, Paul.
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  Speaker 1: This is the second incident of this kind in as
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  Speaker 1: many weeks. It's pretty clear we've got some serious issues
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  Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory right now.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look sadly, it's what we're probably seeing, is this
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  Speaker 3: copycat behavior. We're seeing this, you know, for the sake
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  Speaker 3: of a thrill, that's steal a car and go on
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  Speaker 3: a rampage and post it online. I mean, that's all
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  Speaker 3: well and good, but this kills people. This is life
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  Speaker 3: threatening stuff we're talking about here, and you alone, the police,
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  Speaker 3: or any member of the community don't deserve to have
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  Speaker 3: to put up with that. So it's a government issue.
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  Speaker 3: They need to have a look at why these kids
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  Speaker 3: were out late at night, what's falling down in that
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  Speaker 3: family environment or that unit to have this take place.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, i'd sadly our police are on the
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  Speaker 3: front line dealing with it, and what we don't want
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  Speaker 3: to see them thrown under the bus, so to speak,
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  Speaker 3: in terms of, you know, if they need to take action,
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  Speaker 3: and they should them, well, you know, have to if
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  Speaker 3: they need to save themselves or save others. We want
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  Speaker 3: to make sure they're protected because the last thing we
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  Speaker 3: need is is them questioning what action to take in
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  Speaker 3: a dangerous situation like that.
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  Speaker 2: Paul, I want to be really clear about this.
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  Speaker 1: So do you feel as though this is an operational
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  Speaker 1: issue that the Northern Territory police need to deal with
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  Speaker 1: or do you feel as though this is now a
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory government issue where they need to have a
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  Speaker 1: closer look at their legislation and their policies when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to dealing with youth. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I think our police deal with dangerous situations every day, Katie.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, this is just another one of those. You know,
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  Speaker 3: we can't know no amount of policy or procedure or
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  Speaker 3: whatever was going to going to change what we saw
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  Speaker 3: last night in terms of police operational procedures, but certainly
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  Speaker 3: from a government perspective, you know, we don't want to
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  Speaker 3: see an increase in this sort of behavior from youth
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  Speaker 3: late at night, firstly wondering why they're there in the
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  Speaker 3: first place, and secondly, why aren't they at home? You know,
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  Speaker 3: because if they're out on the loose, so to speak,
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  Speaker 3: and they are young, young individuals, you know, there is
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  Speaker 3: a real problem in the community and that's certainly a
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  Speaker 3: government government issue.
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  Speaker 2: What needs to happen here, Well.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously you know the government are looking at taking some
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  Speaker 3: form of action. They've spoken about Alice Springs in terms
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  Speaker 3: of you know, having a place for young people to
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  Speaker 3: go to. But you know, that's that's Alice Springs is
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  Speaker 3: obviously the whole other territory to look at. And you know,
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  Speaker 3: we we know police are doing all they can, but
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  Speaker 3: it can't fall on the shoulders of police. You know,
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  Speaker 3: every single time these things happen, they'll deal with those
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  Speaker 3: situations as best they can. And thankfully no one was
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  Speaker 3: injured last night, but this won't be the last time, sadly.
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  Speaker 1: It's honestly, it's outrageous and I know that on a
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  Speaker 1: national scale this week there has been a lot seed
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  Speaker 1: about youths in don Dale. We know that today does
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  Speaker 1: mark five years since that Royal commission or since the yeah,
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  Speaker 1: since the Royal commission. But Paul, one thing that I
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  Speaker 1: kind of can't wrap my head around at the moment
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  Speaker 1: is nationally there is outcry about that.
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  Speaker 2: And fair enough, you know, rightly.
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  Speaker 1: So, But why is there not outcry on a national
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  Speaker 1: scale right now about the issue that we are seeing
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to kids driving stolen vehicles? You know
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  Speaker 1: what we saw in Alice Springs, eleven year olds allegedly
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  Speaker 1: in that car. We're like, that is that deserves national outrage?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look it does, and I mean, we don't want
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  Speaker 3: to see children in custodial facilities. You know, that's a
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  Speaker 3: parent across the board. But we also don't want to
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  Speaker 3: see is that give those young people of green light
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  Speaker 3: to do whatever they please in the community at the
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  Speaker 3: risk of the safety of our community. You know, talk
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  Speaker 3: to some of the people who are left behind after
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  Speaker 3: one of their family have been killed as a result
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  Speaker 3: of this type of behavior, Have a talk to them
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  Speaker 3: and see what they think needs to happen. They are
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  Speaker 3: the people left behind with the carnage. The police deal
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  Speaker 3: with the aftermath of these matters, and you know, who
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  Speaker 3: knows what could have happened in Catherine last night with
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  Speaker 3: that sort of behavior. And you know, so the government
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  Speaker 3: needs to sit down and really seriously think about this.
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  Speaker 3: This can't be a you know, this sort of dysfunction
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  Speaker 3: needs attention now, not in a generation's time. And of
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  Speaker 3: course our police are on the front line, you know,
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  Speaker 3: trying to do the best they can, but you know,
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  Speaker 3: no doubt they feel their hands are tired on many occasions.
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  Speaker 3: And that's a sad state to be in.
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  Speaker 2: Paul Mcue. It is.
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  Speaker 1: It's a it's a really difficult situation right now. And
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  Speaker 1: I agree with you, I one hundred percent you know acknowledge,
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  Speaker 1: and I certainly believe that we've got to get it
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  Speaker 1: right when it comes to youth justice and the way
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  Speaker 1: in which we deal with kids. But we've got some
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  Speaker 1: serious problems right now when it comes to youth crime
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  Speaker 1: as well, and something needs to change or we are
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  Speaker 1: going to see well, I don't know, honestly, I don't
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  Speaker 1: know what else we're going to see, because it sort
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  Speaker 1: of feels like we've passed so many of those points
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  Speaker 1: that you would have thought would be you know, it
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  Speaker 1: would be too.
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  Speaker 3: Far, yeah, one hundred percent. And what we don't want
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  Speaker 3: to see as a result of this is a disempowering
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  Speaker 3: of the police to do their job. They're out there
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  Speaker 3: to keep us safe. They need to deal with these
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  Speaker 3: situations as they are confronted, and they need to be
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  Speaker 3: supported in their decision making by the government when they
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  Speaker 3: need to deal with it. And that's certainly the message
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  Speaker 3: from our members.
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  Speaker 1: Paul mchue, As always, I appreciate your time. If you're
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  Speaker 1: speaking to those police officers, we really hope that they
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: are okay after what's unfolded.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, we'll do Thanks Katie, thank you