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Katie Woolf spoke with Police Association President Paul McCue · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Mix one O four point nine dot com dot you
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  Speaker 1: for all the latest news and information. Now three sixty
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  Speaker 1: with Katie Wolf. Everyone is listening Mix one oh four
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  Speaker 1: point nine one hundred percent anten.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we are being inundated with messages.
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  Speaker 3: I'm going to read those out throughout the morning, but
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  Speaker 3: joining us on the line right now. Police Association President
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  Speaker 3: Paul Mchue, Good morning to you, Paul.
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  Speaker 4: Good morning Katie. You're going not.
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  Speaker 2: Too bad now, Paul.
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  Speaker 3: We did just have the Chief Minister, Michael Gunner on
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  Speaker 3: the show and certainly asked a few more questions. We
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  Speaker 3: tried our best, following on from that press release that
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  Speaker 3: you'd issued late last week saying that the government needs
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  Speaker 3: to provide a firm timeline of when they intend to
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  Speaker 3: roll out these proposed bail reforms, also warning that simply
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  Speaker 3: sending more police to Alice Springs will negatively affect other areas. Paul,
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  Speaker 3: what did you make of the Chief Minister's response?
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  Speaker 4: Obviously the Chief Minister's outline community safety is a priority,
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  Speaker 4: So I mean may cannot be a possible or maybe
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  Speaker 4: it must be a definite. You know, they've not obviously
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  Speaker 4: embraced the SEALP proposal. They have basically outlined that in
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  Speaker 4: May they'll put forward a bill and it may be
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  Speaker 4: on urgency. That's simply not good enough. The community are suffering,
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  Speaker 4: the police officers are suffering, their hands are tied at
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  Speaker 4: the moment. This must pass through in May on urgency. No,
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  Speaker 4: IF's all. But if we don't see that, this will
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  Speaker 4: simply string out till later in the year, possibly early
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  Speaker 4: next year. And we're already in ben into another busy
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  Speaker 4: summer period. So this just simply has to happen.
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  Speaker 3: Paul, when you say the police hands will be tied,
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  Speaker 3: talk us through how big an impact this is going
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  Speaker 3: to have if it doesn't go through on urgency in May.
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  Speaker 4: Look, one of the biggest complaints we receive, Katie, is
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  Speaker 4: around a particular section in the Justice Acted, section eight
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  Speaker 4: A and which talks about the interview of the youth,
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  Speaker 4: and that talks about the police's ability what they must
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  Speaker 4: do before they can essentially talk to a youth or
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  Speaker 4: question a youth in relation to an offense, and that
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  Speaker 4: means trying to find a responsible adult or somebody that
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  Speaker 4: can actually come along with that youth and actually sit
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  Speaker 4: there with them before the police can really do anything
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  Speaker 4: in relation to an offense. Their hands are simply tired.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, how difficult is it, you know, two or
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  Speaker 4: three in the morning or whatever time you know, they
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  Speaker 4: come across a youth potentially may have committed an offense
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  Speaker 4: for them to find somebody appropriate to we even ask
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  Speaker 4: a question of that youth. These things have to be amended.
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  Speaker 4: We're talking about serious repetitive offenders here, that as we know,
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  Speaker 4: fifty percent of those who commit offenses that are already
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  Speaker 4: on bail. So there are things that can be done quickly,
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  Speaker 4: and they need to happen in the main sittings at
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  Speaker 4: the latest.
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  Speaker 3: Now, you also spoke about when you sent this pressure
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  Speaker 3: release out late last week, just sending additional police officers
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  Speaker 3: to Alice Springs will have a negative impact in other areas.
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  Speaker 3: The Chief Finister said on the show earlier this morning
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  Speaker 3: that the additional officers being sent down there are those
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  Speaker 3: new recruits. Paul, from my understanding, you know there have
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  Speaker 3: been additional officers sent down earlier in the year that
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  Speaker 3: aren't those new recruits. They're experienced officers that are obviously
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  Speaker 3: down there to try and quell the concerns.
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  Speaker 2: We've got.
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  Speaker 4: It's exactly right, and it's complete rubbish to simply say that,
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  Speaker 4: you know, it's just the additional recruits. I mean, for
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  Speaker 4: heaven's sake, police have been topping up resources now are
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  Speaker 4: springs at minimum. For the last eighteen months we've had
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  Speaker 4: operation you know, Vipers Strike Force. Viper has been used
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  Speaker 4: from police from Darwin and other areas of the territory.
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  Speaker 4: We know there's additional resources down there that weren't initially
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  Speaker 4: going to be sent down there. That's been a very
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  Speaker 4: common practice and it is not the answer when you've
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  Speaker 4: got sections in remote Catherine Tenant and of course Darwen
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  Speaker 4: General Duties and crime who are suffering because of it.
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  Speaker 4: So it is absolutely nonsense to suggest it's simply the
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  Speaker 4: new recruits so that they're heading down there. It's just wrong.
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  Speaker 3: Paul. We have seen quite you know, quite a bit,
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  Speaker 3: I think you'd have to say, of public drunkenness around
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  Speaker 3: dah and certainly up in the top end, and you know,
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  Speaker 3: I'm guessing in Palmerston as well. I've not heard a
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  Speaker 3: huge amount from the Palmerston area, but I know that
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  Speaker 3: over the weekend we had videos sent to us of
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  Speaker 3: some different things happening in the streets of Darwin. I
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  Speaker 3: mean one hundred meters less than one hundred meters away
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  Speaker 3: from Parliament House, a brawl where somebody's pulled out in
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  Speaker 3: each weapon. Whether that was a knife or something else
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  Speaker 3: remains unclear at this point in time. But how you
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  Speaker 3: know when we talk about that public drunkenness and obviously
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  Speaker 3: the Chief Minister and we have heard the Commissioner and
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  Speaker 3: others say that the additional payments as a result of
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  Speaker 3: COVID have had a part to play.
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  Speaker 2: But how big an impact.
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  Speaker 3: Is sort of the resourcing of officers to other areas
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  Speaker 3: like Alice Springs having on things like trying to manage
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  Speaker 3: those issues with alcohol up in the top end.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a significant impact. I mean, it has happened.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, obviously COVID was certainly highlighting some drain on
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  Speaker 4: resources that nobody anticipated. But even outside of that, you know,
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  Speaker 4: we've had the Social Order Unit disbanded and pushed to
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  Speaker 4: other stations to try and cover some of those absences.
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  Speaker 4: But we're still seeing you often no more than two
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  Speaker 4: vans on the road per shift. The shift sergeants out
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  Speaker 4: there are pulling their hair out trying to find enough troops.
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  Speaker 4: You know, it is having a huge impact. I want
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  Speaker 4: to point out not just in dah and GDS, but
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  Speaker 4: in Crime and many of the remote communities who are
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  Speaker 4: doing without as well. So this is across the board,
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  Speaker 4: and I want to make the point. The second half
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  Speaker 4: of the first term of government, the Labor government twenty
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  Speaker 4: eighteen twenty nine em they failed Territorians by not recruiting
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  Speaker 4: enough constables the facts and do not lie. They didn't
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  Speaker 4: cover enough constable attrition and we are now paying the
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  Speaker 4: price and playing catch up through a large attrition rate
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  Speaker 4: is not going to work. They need to get in
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  Speaker 4: front of the game like other jurisdictions to do it.
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  Speaker 3: Paul, We've got a message here from one of our listeners.
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  Speaker 3: It says, can you ask Paul his reaction to Labor
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  Speaker 3: blocking the CLP bill. They say they'll do it on
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  Speaker 3: urgency in May. It was on the table last week,
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  Speaker 3: ready to go, says that Texter.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, well made it clear if there were aspects of
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  Speaker 4: the c l peace proposal that are pretty much going
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  Speaker 4: to be adopted in May or later by Labor, well,
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  Speaker 4: why didn't they support them? I mean, that would be
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  Speaker 4: a very good question to ask them, and certainly from
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  Speaker 4: our perspective, if they were going to pass their distation
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  Speaker 4: that's similar, then why didn't they?
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  Speaker 1: Paul?
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  Speaker 3: Just lastly, on the weekend, the Northern Territory Police Assistant
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  Speaker 3: Commissioner of Crime, Intelligence and Capability, Nick Anatych, penned a
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  Speaker 3: letter to the Northern Territory News in response to a
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  Speaker 3: number of serious sexual assaults which have occurred in recent
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  Speaker 3: months in the territory. There's been criticism about the fact
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  Speaker 3: that the media were not notified about these incidents, ultimately
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  Speaker 3: meaning you know that the public hasn't been made aware.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I totally understand the fact that victim privacy
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  Speaker 3: is one hundred percent a major priority in this situation.
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  Speaker 3: But do the public have a right to know when
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  Speaker 3: there are serious incidents? Yeah?
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  Speaker 4: Obviously, you know, media releases are issued through the police
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  Speaker 4: force and for whatever reason, some are put out urgently
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  Speaker 4: and some aren't. But you know, certainly from our perspective,
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  Speaker 4: you know, I think people want to see consistency. Obviously,
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  Speaker 4: mister anders Hitch felt the need to put a letter
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  Speaker 4: in the paper. I was a little surprised at that.
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  Speaker 4: I've got to be honest, but he felt the need
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  Speaker 4: to do that. That's his prerogative, but certainly the concerns
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  Speaker 4: of yourselves and other media outlets and the public you
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  Speaker 4: know obviously are also at the forefront of those decision
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  Speaker 4: making processes as well. So yeah, look, from our perspective,
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  Speaker 4: consistency is obviously the priority.
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  Speaker 3: Paul. Obviously, you know, all media outlets get their information
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  Speaker 3: from different sources, and I would never reveal any of
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  Speaker 3: my sources, and I know that you know other media
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  Speaker 3: outlets are exactly the same. But you know, I guess
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  Speaker 3: the situation is here and it is certainly you know,
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  Speaker 3: it's it's touched on in this letter that the details
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  Speaker 3: of these matters are confidential and highly sensitive and personal
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  Speaker 3: and could only have come to knowledge, to the knowledge
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  Speaker 3: of the media as a result of someone committing a
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  Speaker 3: criminal offense in an unauthorized disclosure of such information.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, is that a warning do you think.
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  Speaker 3: From them from him that you know, if there are
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  Speaker 3: police officers or others in authorized positions who are releasing
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  Speaker 3: this information, that that really, you know, you're committing a
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  Speaker 3: criminal offense.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, look, I assume that's what he's getting out there.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, obviously, you know, our detectives who would be
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  Speaker 4: investigating those crimes do an incredibly good job We've got
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  Speaker 4: some of the best detectives in Australia here and I think,
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  Speaker 4: you know, if he felt the need to issue a
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  Speaker 4: statement along those lines, well that's his prerogative. But you know,
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  Speaker 4: I just think we need to support our police and
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  Speaker 4: the difficult job that they're doing, and that's what we do,
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  Speaker 4: and I think everyone should be doing the same thing.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think, though that.
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  Speaker 3: Were It's pretty obvious to me that there are some people,
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  Speaker 3: whether they're you know, I don't know whether it's police
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  Speaker 3: officers or who it is, but some people are frustrated
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  Speaker 3: by the fact that some of this information isn't being
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  Speaker 3: released and it's ultimately being leaked to the media. I mean, like,
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  Speaker 3: to me, that shows that they're honestly. To me, it
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  Speaker 3: makes me think that there are members within the force.
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  Speaker 2: So do think that the public have a right to know?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, Look, obviously it's frustrating. I mean obviously there's people
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  Speaker 4: and the community want to know things as soon as possible.
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  Speaker 4: There often are reasons why some information is not released immediately.
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  Speaker 4: I think that's been covered off fairly extensively. But you know,
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  Speaker 4: of course, their decisions the of the either the detectives
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  Speaker 4: at the time the Assistant Commission at the time in
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  Speaker 4: the meet in conjunction with their media units. So you know,
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  Speaker 4: we're not privy to those decisions, so it's very difficult
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  Speaker 4: for us to comment on why that didn't occur.
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  Speaker 3: Well, Paul Mcue, President of the Police Association, we always
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  Speaker 3: appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much for speaking with us.
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  Speaker 4: Good on you.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks guy, Thank you