Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Police Association expresses its concerns about assaults on officers and alcohol in communities

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NT Police Association expresses its concerns about assaults on officers and alcohol in communities · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: As we know over the weekend, well police have condemned
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  Speaker 1: continued attacks on emergency responders after three officers were allegedly
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  Speaker 1: kicked in the stomach, the head and I believe Pelton
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  Speaker 1: with objects over the course of the weekend. Now my
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  Speaker 1: understanding is that there were three officers who were assaulted
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  Speaker 1: across two separate incidents, one in Malden and I believe
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  Speaker 1: one was across the WA border where Territory police were assisting.
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  Speaker 2: Now joining me in.
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  Speaker 1: The studio is the Police Association President Paul McHugh.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Paul.
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  Speaker 3: Morning Katy Paul.
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  Speaker 1: Another terrible situation where you and I are talking yet
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  Speaker 1: again about police officers being assaulted. I understand that one
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight year old woman was alleged to have attacked
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  Speaker 1: two officers in what's been described as a dramatic arrest
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  Speaker 1: in Malden.
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  Speaker 2: Can you tell us what happened?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, obviously another day, another several assaults on police
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  Speaker 3: and we do talk about this quite regularly, disappointingly, but yeah,
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  Speaker 3: over the weekend there was a terrible assault in Moulden
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  Speaker 3: suburb of Palmerston here in Darwin, and you know, two
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  Speaker 3: police were attacked and obviously a pretty serious incident where
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  Speaker 3: officers were horrifically attacked. And we're not just talking about
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  Speaker 3: laying a hand on someone gently. We're talking about a
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  Speaker 3: vicious assault on officers and violently that particular person when
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  Speaker 3: they were trying to be arrested, violently kicking out and
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  Speaker 3: resulting in an officer being kicked to the head multiple
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  Speaker 3: times and another officer sadly suffering laceration to the face
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  Speaker 3: from requiring you know, some medical assistance on that occasion.
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  Speaker 3: So pretty serious.
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  Speaker 2: Assault, are they okay?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, we've had representatives reach out. Obviously, they've got
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  Speaker 3: a great support network in the Palmerston area and the
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  Speaker 3: supervisors and the senior police that managed that area do
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  Speaker 3: a great job, and you know, they've obviously would have
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  Speaker 3: been taken care of those officers in that pretty pretty
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  Speaker 3: serious situation.
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  Speaker 1: So I've got to ask, how do you go back
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  Speaker 1: to work after something like this happens? If you get
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  Speaker 1: kicked in the head multiple times when you go out
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  Speaker 1: to arrest someone, how do you go back to work?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, it's tough. I mean, we've got some extremely
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  Speaker 3: resilient members of the police force, thankfully, but you know,
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  Speaker 3: time and time again, if they're going to cop an assault
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  Speaker 3: are such serious nature and it happens on multiple occasions,
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  Speaker 3: we know it does through our own research. Eventually it
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  Speaker 3: takes its toll and eventually those officers will need time
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  Speaker 3: off to recover, either physically or mentally.
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  Speaker 1: We know as well that there was a kin Tour
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  Speaker 1: officer as I understand it, who was arresting a thirty
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  Speaker 1: year old man just over the border when he was
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  Speaker 1: when this bloke kicked her in the stomach.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, obviously, Kintour is one of our cross jurisdictional police
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  Speaker 3: stations where we have West Australian Police working with NT
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  Speaker 3: Police and they help each other out regularly. And again
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  Speaker 3: another serious assault kicking our NT Police officer in the stomach,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, another serious event. One too many we
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  Speaker 3: keep talking about.
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  Speaker 1: Do we have any idea how many police officers have
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  Speaker 1: been assaulted on the job this year? Now?
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  Speaker 3: Look, y're on year averages around two hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 3: assaults per year. That's over a five year period. We
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  Speaker 3: know there's been a spike in the last couple of months.
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  Speaker 3: We know, and it's not just one a day. We're
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  Speaker 3: having several a day, and we know there's barely a
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  Speaker 3: day goes by in the court list, whether it be
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  Speaker 3: here or our Springs or in other parts of the
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  Speaker 3: territory where somebody's not fronting up about an assault on police.
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  Speaker 3: And that's terrible.
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  Speaker 1: What do we need to do here, because honestly, you
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  Speaker 1: and I have spoken about this on so many occasions.
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  Speaker 1: What do we need to do because whatever is happening
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  Speaker 1: right now is not working.
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  Speaker 3: It's not and obviously police, you know, they're out there
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  Speaker 3: picking up the pieces for the government every single day,
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  Speaker 3: and every time something goes pair shaped, it's the police
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  Speaker 3: generally responding. And then obviously the flow on effects to
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  Speaker 3: our medical and other frontline workers. And you know, the
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  Speaker 3: government committed to a working group in relation to reviewing
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  Speaker 3: penalties on assaults on frontline workers. They committed to that
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  Speaker 3: at our conference last year in August. We had a
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  Speaker 3: meeting in September where you know there was supposed to
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  Speaker 3: be fortnightly meetings. There's been no other meeting since, because you.
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  Speaker 2: Want, I spoke about this just a few weeks ago
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  Speaker 2: as well.
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  Speaker 3: Nothing one meeting, no follow up, So that tells me
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  Speaker 3: there's no commitment there at all to change the legislation.
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  Speaker 3: To protect our frontline. Poper.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to be really honest this morning.
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  Speaker 1: I feel as though we've got a situation in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory at the moment where every time things are
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  Speaker 1: not going well, whether we're talking about the issues of
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  Speaker 1: alcohol in the community, when we're talking about, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the issues with crime that we're seeing around the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory community, the police are the first people that are
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  Speaker 1: called upon to try and clean those issues up. Now
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  Speaker 1: fair enough, you know, we know that the job of
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Police is to serve and protect. We
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  Speaker 1: all understand that, but some of what is going on
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  Speaker 1: at the moment, it does not seem as though we've
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  Speaker 1: got enough police to be dealing with all of these issues.
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  Speaker 3: No, far too often, obviously, you know, p officon often
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  Speaker 3: the front line and the only line protecting the negativity
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  Speaker 3: in the community and the community itself. And often it's
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  Speaker 3: the police that are left there when everyone else has
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  Speaker 3: gone and to deal with this mess. And you know,
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  Speaker 3: if we're not protecting them, then what on earth are
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  Speaker 3: we doing? And you're right, we continually receive complaints to
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  Speaker 3: our office around resourcing. We know the Minister continually says
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  Speaker 3: we've got more police than ever before, the budgets greater
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  Speaker 3: than ever before, but the requirements on our police have
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  Speaker 3: never been greater. There's clearly not enough. We know there
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  Speaker 3: are times in our remote communities, for example, where members
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  Speaker 3: are working upwards of sixty to seventy hours over time
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  Speaker 3: in a fortnight that's on top of their regular eighty hours.
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  Speaker 3: And we know there are times here in town, in
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  Speaker 3: Darwin and so forth where there's only one van available
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  Speaker 3: to respond to jobs on the road in an eight
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  Speaker 3: hour shift, and that's not enough.
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  Speaker 1: So there's two issues here that I want to find
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  Speaker 1: out a bit more about. So over time in one week,
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  Speaker 1: how many extra hours?
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  Speaker 3: So in a fortnightly period police work eighty hours, that's
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  Speaker 3: their rostered hours, and there are times when there's on
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  Speaker 3: top of that eighty hours they're working somewhere between sixty
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  Speaker 3: and seventy over time hours. So you're talking about newly
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  Speaker 3: doing a double shift every shift to make ends meet
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  Speaker 3: in some of these remote areas. That is completely unsustainable
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  Speaker 3: and unhealthy.
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  Speaker 1: It is well, and it makes it really difficult for
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  Speaker 1: them to be able to do their jobs properly.
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  Speaker 2: I would assume as well.
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  Speaker 3: It does because ultimately you can do that for a
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  Speaker 3: very short time. Long term you just can't.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we get a lot of people contact us here
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  Speaker 1: at the station now. People are really supportive of the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police so feel that they do a really
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  Speaker 1: good job, but they do not feel that there are
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  Speaker 1: enough patrols out on the roads. We have one person
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  Speaker 1: getting contact and say it seems like security guards are
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  Speaker 1: still being left to patrol the CBD. We know that
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Police had announced it they were going
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  Speaker 1: to have those officers back doing those cotrols, but do
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  Speaker 1: we have enough patrols like going through places like the CBD.
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  Speaker 2: No.
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  Speaker 3: No, Look, ultimately it's not just the CBD. It's across
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  Speaker 3: the board we know, and it's not through any fold
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  Speaker 3: of our supervisors. Our senior police are doing all they
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  Speaker 3: can to try and find enough people to put in
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  Speaker 3: these patrols. Were just simply the expectations on police in
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  Speaker 3: twenty twenty two are far greater than just a couple
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  Speaker 3: of years ago. We know we've gone through the COVID
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  Speaker 3: period and we know police were very much at the
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  Speaker 3: forefront of that, but the expectations on police out there
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  Speaker 3: on the front line are far greater than ever before.
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  Speaker 2: What's changed are they what expectations have changed.
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  Speaker 3: It's in relation to obviously the requirements to attend a
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  Speaker 3: particular job, you know, the requirements on attending every single
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  Speaker 3: job that comes in over the phone, you know. And
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  Speaker 3: it's our poor police out there that are attending these
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  Speaker 3: jobs sometimes twenty four to forty eight hours after they
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  Speaker 3: come in and they're copying it from the public. It's
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  Speaker 3: those poor General duties officers or the first responders that
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  Speaker 3: turn up and they're copying it and it's unfair and
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  Speaker 3: the government need to understand that this is what they're
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  Speaker 3: putting up with and the government are responsible. They are
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  Speaker 3: the ones that need to put more bodies on the beat.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, it can only be done through an investment,
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  Speaker 3: you know, to assist the commissioner put enough patrols on
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  Speaker 3: the road. And it's as simple as that.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, we spoke to the Police Minister last
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  Speaker 1: week and she had said that there's going to be
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  Speaker 1: some announcements in coming days or in the very near
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  Speaker 1: future when it comes to the real issues that we're
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  Speaker 1: seeing around Darwin at the moment, I know we're seeing
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  Speaker 1: it in Alice springs in our major town centers. When
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  Speaker 1: it comes to crime, alcohol issues, domestic violence. You know
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  Speaker 1: it's as clear as day for anybody when you walk
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  Speaker 1: down the street at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: But what do we.
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  Speaker 1: Need to do to assist police to be able to
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  Speaker 1: do their jobs? And I know that it's not police
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  Speaker 1: aligned because we've heard this from our Northern Territory police
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  Speaker 1: that it's got to be an effort where all agencies
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  Speaker 1: are involved. But from your perspective, you know what should
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  Speaker 1: or what could the Northern Territory government be announcing right
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  Speaker 1: now to try and help.
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  Speaker 3: There needs to be a far greater focus on roles
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  Speaker 3: that can be undertaken by agencies other than police. Far
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  Speaker 3: too often the police are required to do all and
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  Speaker 3: everything after hours a lot of other agencies close for
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  Speaker 3: the night. We are not living in a society where
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  Speaker 3: we can just rely on police and those short police numbers.
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  Speaker 3: We have, the small police numbers we have to do
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  Speaker 3: everything between the hours of four pm and eight am
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  Speaker 3: the next day. There has to be a far greater
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  Speaker 3: focus on other agencies and other ngngos as well to
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  Speaker 3: see what investment can be put into that into those
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  Speaker 3: fields to ease some of the pressure on what police
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  Speaker 3: are expected to do every single day because they just
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  Speaker 3: simply can't keep up.
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  Speaker 1: Paul, Before I let you go, we are going to
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  Speaker 1: be speaking a little bit more about alcohol and the
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  Speaker 1: potential for takeaway alcohol to return to four hundred and
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  Speaker 1: thirty community living areas around the Northern Territory. So essentially
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  Speaker 1: in some communities, what we could see is take away
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  Speaker 1: alcohol back in those communities, you know from the outset,
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  Speaker 1: I guess you know, if you're looking at it and missay,
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  Speaker 1: if it's community lead, if the women in those communities
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  Speaker 1: feel safe having a limited amount of alcohol in them,
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  Speaker 1: then should it be allowed. But then on the other
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  Speaker 1: side of the fence, you think, well, hang on a second,
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  Speaker 1: are we going to see a situation where there's not
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  Speaker 1: enough police, there's not enough resources if we do see issues,
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  Speaker 1: what's your take?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, it's you know a lot of feedback coming
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  Speaker 3: in from our members in relation to their concerns on this,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, we're not saying it shouldn't happen, but
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  Speaker 3: there needs to be a full and proper consultation process
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  Speaker 3: take place. We don't want to go back to those
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  Speaker 3: years where there was alcohol flowing freely throughout the community.
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  Speaker 3: We know you're only going to look at the Roylar
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  Speaker 3: review from twenty seven A, the recommendations out of that,
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  Speaker 3: the research done on that. We know alcohol related harm
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  Speaker 3: is enormous here in the NT and you know, we
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  Speaker 3: raise those concerns a couple of weeks ago publicly around
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  Speaker 3: the changes to this legislation coming in very soon, and
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  Speaker 3: we support those other concerns of agencies that have raised
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  Speaker 3: the similar concerns around the rush process we're seeing here
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  Speaker 3: without consultation.
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  Speaker 1: So has there been any consultation because this legislation is
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  Speaker 1: it being introduced or meant to pass in May?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well it's you know, obviously the stronger Futures legislation
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  Speaker 3: is ceasing come you know, a couple of months time,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, so that's coming in. We've seen the
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  Speaker 3: ministers outline that said, well, you know it's coming in,
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  Speaker 3: so police need to be ready. Well, the police are
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  Speaker 3: quite concerned, very concerned, as are many other agencies such
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  Speaker 3: as am SANT and other organizations, and rightly so, we
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  Speaker 3: don't have enough police to deal with the fallout that
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  Speaker 3: may come as a result of this.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Paul Mitcheu, we are going to be catching up
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  Speaker 1: with the CEO of St. John Patterson in just a
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  Speaker 1: couple of minutes. We always appreciate your time. Thanks for
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  Speaker 1: popping into the studio this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you.