Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Assistant Commissioner for Regional and Remote Policing Martin Dole says police have made 386 arrests for property crime offences in Alice Springs since January

Transcript

Assistant Commissioner for Regional and Remote Policing Martin Dole says police have made 386 arrests for property crime offences in Alice Springs since January · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now. There has been a lot happening in Alice Springs
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: of late and it's reached tipping point according to Tourism
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Central Australia, which says that tourists are being targeted and
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: locals afraid to sleep at night. We also know that
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  Speaker 1: an elderly man was seriously assaulted earlier in the week
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  Speaker 1: and as I understand that the visitor Information center was
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  Speaker 1: damaged as well throughout a break in. Now joining me
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  Speaker 1: for a bit of an update from the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: Police perspective is the Assistant Assistant Commissioner of Regional and
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  Speaker 1: Remote Policing based in Alice Springs, Martin Dole. Good morning
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  Speaker 1: to you, Martin.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Good morning to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning. Firstly, can
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  Speaker 1: I ask are there any developments after the assault of
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  Speaker 1: the sixty seven year old man that we spoke about
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  Speaker 1: earlier in the week.
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  Speaker 2: So we haven't made any arrests in relation to that, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: that gentleman still in hospital and he's still listed in
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  Speaker 2: a serious but stable condition and our detectives are still
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: working around the clock to try and identify exactly what
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: happened in relation to that assault.
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  Speaker 1: Hopefully able to apprehend the person who's done it, and
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  Speaker 1: so he's still in hospital at this point in time
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  Speaker 1: and stable. Did you say that's correct?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, all right.
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  Speaker 1: Now, I understand. I mean, obviously there's been quite a
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  Speaker 1: bit happening throughout the last couple of weeks, so I
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  Speaker 1: guess that there is always a lot of discussion when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to crime in Central Australia, but certainly over
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  Speaker 1: the last few weeks it seems to have reached fever
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  Speaker 1: pitch for some We know that Tourism Central Australia had
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  Speaker 1: come out and said that locals and tourists were indeed
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  Speaker 1: being targeted. Are you aware or have you heard that
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  Speaker 1: tourists are being targeted? Is it something that you are
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  Speaker 1: concerned about?
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  Speaker 2: So, firstly, I suppose Katie. What I'll say is that
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  Speaker 2: there is always a lot going on in Central Australia.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think what I've seen is it's fever pitch
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  Speaker 2: in the last few weeks, but we have continued high
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  Speaker 2: rates of crime. So I'm aware of one incident where
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  Speaker 2: a tourist was assaulted the Tourist Information Center, but police
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  Speaker 2: are still following that up. But that's a random attack
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  Speaker 2: and that wasn't a specific targeting of that person.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it must concern you though that there are
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  Speaker 1: people saying in Central Australia that you know that they're
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  Speaker 1: afraid when they go to sleep at night of what's
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  Speaker 1: going to happen.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it absolutely concerns me, Katie, it really does. And
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  Speaker 2: the fact is that unlafflantry of your premises and stealing
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  Speaker 2: of your belong belongings is one of the most traumatic
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  Speaker 2: things that can happen to you. But what I do
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  Speaker 2: want to assure the public of and the public of
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  Speaker 2: the Norn Territory in Nalla Springs is the great work
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  Speaker 2: that our guys are doing in following up, investigating and
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  Speaker 2: apprehending these people that are committing these crimes. And have
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  Speaker 2: got a few stats for you if you'd like, Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: definitely some of the some of the arrests that our
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  Speaker 2: Strikeforce Viper team have made since January this year. Now,
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  Speaker 2: Strikeforce Viper was set up to target property crime, criminal
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  Speaker 2: damage type offenses. Now since January this year, they've apprehended
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  Speaker 2: eight hundred and twenty six people and those stats include
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  Speaker 2: three hundred and eighty six areas, one hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 2: two summons, fifty eight youth diversions, and one hundred and
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  Speaker 2: thirty four apprehensions for breach of bail. And that's purely
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  Speaker 2: in relation to property offending. So it does show the
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  Speaker 2: really good work that our guys are doing following up
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  Speaker 2: these offenses and holding people accountable.
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  Speaker 1: So just talk me through those stats again. Eight hundred
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  Speaker 1: and twenty six people arrested by Strikeforce viper Throe.
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  Speaker 2: Sorry, I'll just I'll break it. It's eight hundred and
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  Speaker 2: twenty six apprehensions. Apprehensions broken down into three eighty six arrests,
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  Speaker 2: one fifty two summons, is fifty eight youth diversions, yep.
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  Speaker 1: So I mean it's pretty clear that the police are
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  Speaker 1: doing everything that they can to try to you know,
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  Speaker 1: to get or to stop crime. Like once it's at
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  Speaker 1: the pointy end, you know, you're doing what you can
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  Speaker 1: once it's at that point end, but it does seem
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  Speaker 1: as though, you know, something's failing us before that point
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  Speaker 1: if the police are reaching the point where you know,
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  Speaker 1: there's eight hundred and twenty six apprehensions since January this year.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, we've also recently increased our presence throughout the
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  Speaker 3: CBD and we've got a high visibility, pleasing presence just
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  Speaker 3: to give that public reassurance and public confidence and try
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  Speaker 3: and intercept some of this any.
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  Speaker 2: Social and criminal behavior that's occurring throughout our CBD with
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  Speaker 2: the likes of smash windows and people committing any social
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  Speaker 2: behavior behavior drinking in public. So we have got an
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  Speaker 2: increased presence out there and people will see us around
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  Speaker 2: engaging with businesses in the weeks ahead.
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  Speaker 1: And so Martin, is that something that's sort of vamped
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  Speaker 1: up over the last week or so.
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  Speaker 2: We certainly have increased our presence. Yes, over the last
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  Speaker 2: few weeks, we have, Katie, that's for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Now, can I ask you as well. We caught up
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  Speaker 1: with the Police Association president Paul mchu earlier in the week. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I very much know you know that I'm not going
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  Speaker 1: to engage you in a political discussion. I know that
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  Speaker 1: that's not appropriate given your role, but I do want
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  Speaker 1: to ask head rays that there are some concerns when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to that point of intervention from the palis
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  Speaker 1: on bottleshel he had given us the figure of about
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  Speaker 1: two hundred and seventeen grog refusals per day. I mean
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  Speaker 1: that is a lot that the police are then dealing
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  Speaker 1: with the pali's dealing with on those bottle shops, isn't it.
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  Speaker 2: That is totally Katie. So look, I've been keeping an
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  Speaker 2: eye on the stats, and we've got stats for the
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  Speaker 2: ten weeks since the cessation of Stronger Future. There's no
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  Speaker 2: doubt that in the weeks immediately following the cessation we
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  Speaker 2: had some spikes of refusals and that was reaching into
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  Speaker 2: the two hundreds. In those first couple of weeks, those
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  Speaker 2: have been trending down and last week the numbers were
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  Speaker 2: well below two hundred refusals a day.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so they are going down a little bit in
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  Speaker 1: the recent days by the sounds of us so well
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  Speaker 1: in the recent weeks.
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  Speaker 2: So the first five weeks we saw them reach a peak,
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  Speaker 2: and in the five weeks subsequent to that we've seen
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  Speaker 2: them trending downwards.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Paul mckew had also said that right now there
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  Speaker 1: are only fifteen of those palis that are on the
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  Speaker 1: bottle shops operational in Alice Springs. There is funding for
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  Speaker 1: forty one or forty two. As I understand it is
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  Speaker 1: that the case that there is only fifteen right now.
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  Speaker 2: No, that's not the case. Katie, So we do have
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  Speaker 2: funding for forty one positions, and I can understand there's
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  Speaker 2: a bit of confusion around the numbers because they're very similar.
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  Speaker 2: We're currently carrying fourteen or fifteen vacancies. So out of
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  Speaker 2: the forty one established positions, we've got twenty seven of
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  Speaker 2: those filled and twenty two of them are available for
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  Speaker 2: PALI duties, five of them unavailable for various other reasons.
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  Speaker 1: Does that mean, though, that we're in a situation where
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  Speaker 1: sometimes you know constables who you would have doing other
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  Speaker 1: roles around the town having to step in and do
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  Speaker 1: that job on the bottle shops.
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  Speaker 2: That's exactly what it means, Katie. But we're committed at
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  Speaker 2: the moment to completing continuing full lockdown. We feel those
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  Speaker 2: vacancies through a variation of overtime shifts and allocating people
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  Speaker 2: to roster shifts because we're currently carrying an excess number
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  Speaker 2: of constables and other springs above our establishment. So we're
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  Speaker 2: able to do that and fill that without too much
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  Speaker 2: impact on the front line.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so it's not from your perspective, it's not having
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  Speaker 1: a big impact when it comes to you know, those
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  Speaker 1: more highly visible patrols and things like that around the Straits.
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  Speaker 2: Not in the long term, Katie, No, okay, but right now, Look,
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  Speaker 2: right now we're able to fill those because we've currently
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  Speaker 2: got the establishment above. Yep, we're consistently recruiting to the
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  Speaker 2: pali officers. It's very difficult to keep pally officers because
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  Speaker 2: what we see is a trend from paleo officers jumping
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  Speaker 2: over to constable streams, so they get a taste of
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  Speaker 2: the police force, a lot of them want to join
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  Speaker 2: the police force proper, and that's when we end up
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  Speaker 2: losing palely officers across the constable. So we're consistently recruiting
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  Speaker 2: back to the palelyo officers to keep ourselves up to
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  Speaker 2: the up to the limits that we're funded to deliver.
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  Speaker 1: Martin, from your perspective, house things going in Central Australia
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  Speaker 1: and in Alice Springs at the moment when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to some of those concerns around youth crime, because I
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  Speaker 1: know you and I had spoken quite a little while
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  Speaker 1: back when it came to some of those issues in
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  Speaker 1: youth crime and one of the other Assistant commissioners, and
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  Speaker 1: it had certainly been raised that you know, at different
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  Speaker 1: times there was a lot of like really young kids
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  Speaker 1: on the streets in Alice Springs at nighttime. How are
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  Speaker 1: things going from your perspective in that space.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Katie, we've currently been working with the other agencies,
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  Speaker 2: and I know when we spoke some time ago with
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  Speaker 2: Commander Laidna, who was the acting Assistant Commissioner at the time,
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  Speaker 2: we were crying out to say, look, we need to
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  Speaker 2: work more collaboratively. I'm pleased to say that's happening. That
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  Speaker 2: is taking place, and there's a Social Order Response team
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  Speaker 2: been set up with all of the other agencies that
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  Speaker 2: we are talking about interested in working together with us
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  Speaker 2: to address some of these problems. So since January, we've
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  Speaker 2: referred one hundred and four youth to Youth Diversion, sixty
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  Speaker 2: seven of those of the local al Springs youth and
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  Speaker 2: the remaining thirty seven are from the various Southern Region communities.
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  Speaker 3: So we are.
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  Speaker 2: Referring to youth diversion and the other agencies are able
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  Speaker 2: to take that up and put these children on programs.
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  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner, to anybody listening this morning, we are going
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  Speaker 1: to have to wrap up. But to anybody listening this
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  Speaker 1: morning who is in Allie Springs who is really concerned
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  Speaker 1: about the rates of crime and the issues that they
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  Speaker 1: are seeing. And I know that there is always a
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  Speaker 1: lot of support for the territory police, but what would
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  Speaker 1: you say to those people that are listening and are
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  Speaker 1: concerned about what they're seeing around the town.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I just encouraged the community to have faith in
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  Speaker 2: the police force. We are out there, we are making
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  Speaker 2: a difference in locking these people up. One thing I'd
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  Speaker 2: just like to say to the communicating is target hardening
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  Speaker 2: is still something that can assist us. We encourage people
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  Speaker 2: to still not leave windows and doors unlocked, make sure
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  Speaker 2: that your keys are in a safe place, because those
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  Speaker 2: simple things can assist us so much with simple break
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  Speaker 2: ins that just don't need to happen when you locked
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  Speaker 2: your premises up.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Assistant Commissioner Martin Dole, the Assistant Commissioner for
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  Speaker 1: Regional and Remote Policing based in Alice Springs. I appreciate
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: your time this morning. Thank you for speaking with us.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Katie,