Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Police Association President Paul McCue says is calling for an urgent meeting of a working group involving the Police Minister following an axe attack on police

Transcript

NT Police Association President Paul McCue says is calling for an urgent meeting of a working group involving the Police Minister following an axe attack on police · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that the Northern Territory Police Association's described an
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: axe attack on officers at Daily River as reckless.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Violent and sickening.
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  Speaker 1: Now, two officers were injured while responding to reports of
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: a disturbance in the community on Sunday evening. And joining
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  Speaker 1: me on the line right now to tell us a
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  Speaker 1: little bit more about what went down is the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory Police Association President Paul mchu Good boarding.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Paul, Good morning, Katie.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: How are you Yeah, not.
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  Speaker 1: Too bad, Paul. How did this incident unfold over the weekends? Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Look, obviously police down there on Daily River they do
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: a great job, as all of our remote police officers do.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, another day, another evening down there, and
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  Speaker 3: the reports obviously of a group of offenders driving around
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  Speaker 3: that community in stolen vehicles, and we know, sadly, a
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  Speaker 3: lot of stolen vehicles end up in our remote areas,
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  Speaker 3: and it was also known that they were armed with weapons.
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  Speaker 3: So that's an extremely dangerous situation for police to be
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  Speaker 3: confronted with, and as we always they go towards that
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  Speaker 3: danger and they try and respond as best as they can,
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  Speaker 3: and sadly, on this occasion, you know, those offenders thought
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  Speaker 3: it would be a great idea to throw the exit
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  Speaker 3: at the vehicle, shout at the window, and of course
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  Speaker 3: one of those officers also received a laceration to his arm,
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  Speaker 3: so you can imagine how frightening that would have been.
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  Speaker 1: It's terrifying. It is one hundred percent terrifying that that
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  Speaker 1: has happened. How are those police officers right now?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, obviously they're very shake and we've been making efforts,
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  Speaker 3: you know, over the last twenty four hours to touch
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  Speaker 3: base with those officers. We're still waiting to speak with
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  Speaker 3: one of them. But a very terrifying incident. And remember
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  Speaker 3: these are the sorts of matter that police. You know
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  Speaker 3: that that's one incident, then there are other incidents over
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  Speaker 3: their careers, and it all adds up and it's it's
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  Speaker 3: a very frightening situation that they're confronted with them. Thank goodness,
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  Speaker 3: you know, whilst that situation was horrific, thank goodness they're
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: okay because it could have been much worse.
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  Speaker 1: Do you have any idea that those that were responsible
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: have been charged.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I believe they're still searching for many of those offenders.
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  Speaker 3: I know, as Commander Anderson down and Catherine has pointed
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  Speaker 3: out there, they're working hard to you know, obviously try
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  Speaker 3: and identify those particular offenders, being nighttime and dark and
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  Speaker 3: it's very difficult to actually, you know, find out in
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  Speaker 3: a situation like that who who was in that vehicle,
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  Speaker 3: But no doubt they're working very hard to find those offenders.
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  Speaker 1: Now I understand that additional police have been searched to
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  Speaker 1: that community.
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  Speaker 2: Are the officers safe.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I guess what we've seen. You know, this
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  Speaker 3: is one example, and you know quite clearly they're not
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  Speaker 3: safe at the moment. Some of those officers are coming
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  Speaker 3: home with some terrible injuries. And this is one example
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  Speaker 3: of many we're seeing in recent times where the elevation
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: of violence towards our police on the front line has
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: just increased dramatically, and we've seen examples of that, Katie.
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  Speaker 3: We've had four media releases in the last twenty four
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: hours from police highlighting extremely dangerous situations from Daily River
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  Speaker 3: to Tenant Creek, Alice Springs in our pinelands. We've had
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  Speaker 3: horrific attacks on our members and it's just not getting
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  Speaker 3: any better.
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  Speaker 1: As you pointed out there, there's obviously been other attacks
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  Speaker 1: on members.
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  Speaker 2: What else has happened.
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  Speaker 3: Well, the weekend started on Friday of last week in
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  Speaker 3: Tennant Creek where police, you know, we're trying to arrest
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: a man who turned around, spat in the face of
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  Speaker 3: one of the officers and then kicked another in the face.
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  Speaker 3: So you know we've touched base with those officers, very
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  Speaker 3: very dangerous. In fact, one of those officers has only
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  Speaker 3: been in tenn And Creek for ten days, so that's
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  Speaker 3: a nice welcome to Tenant Creek for that poor officer.
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  Speaker 3: Of course, also in Alice Springs, we know, you know,
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  Speaker 3: there were ten youths arrested after several vehicles were stolen,
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  Speaker 3: and of course that required police to put through a
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: high deflation device. Of course that's a very very serious
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  Speaker 3: and dangerous thing to try and do as well. But
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  Speaker 3: we know there were a lot of youths involved in
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  Speaker 3: that incident. And of course the Pinelands we now know
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  Speaker 3: some police were attacked by an offender with some secreateers
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  Speaker 3: who threw them and in fact they became embedded in
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  Speaker 3: a large metal sign. This is the sort of terrific violence,
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  Speaker 3: edged weapon violence that our members are having to put
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  Speaker 3: up within our community at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: Paul, just to take our listeners through that incident. We
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  Speaker 1: have just got that statement in front of us, so essentially,
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Police have charged a twenty eight year
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  Speaker 1: old man after an attempted unlawful entry at a bottle
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  Speaker 1: shop in Pinelands on Sunday. Members patrolling the area came
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  Speaker 1: across that group on the Stuart Highway just after nine pm,
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  Speaker 1: allegedly attempting to gain access through the staff entrance door.
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  Speaker 1: Police approached approached them in their vehicle and identified themselves
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  Speaker 1: to the group. When the offender ran towards them with
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  Speaker 1: a large pair of secreateers, the members to take evasive
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  Speaker 1: action and position the vehicle behind a large metal sign.
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  Speaker 1: The man then through those, piercing the sign as you've
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  Speaker 1: just pointed out, before fleeing across the highway. They've later
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  Speaker 1: arrested him. But that is an incredibly dangerous situation for
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  Speaker 1: the police to be.
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  Speaker 3: Just another example, isn't it of the horrific violence being
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  Speaker 3: being put to our members out there on the front line.
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  Speaker 3: We've had axe attacks now, secreateers, kicked in the face,
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  Speaker 3: bat in the face. This is all within the last
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  Speaker 3: two or three days. For Heaven's sake. I mean, what
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  Speaker 3: is it going to take for the government to say
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  Speaker 3: enough is enough? We know, you know, sadly, this level
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  Speaker 3: of violence is not just towards our police but also
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  Speaker 3: other front line personnel. But of course our police are
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  Speaker 3: reporting almost daily to us now be horrific assaults and
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  Speaker 3: of course you know this doesn't portray a great environment
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  Speaker 3: in the community for our police to be trying to
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: keep us safe when this is the sort of attacks
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  Speaker 3: that they're being faced with every day.
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  Speaker 2: Paul, what does the association want to see here?
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  Speaker 3: Well, the government did instigate a working group in relation
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: to our assaults on our police under the Cole Manison. Sadly,
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: it met once and it's gone nowhere else. Now, that
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  Speaker 3: was an ideal opportunity to sit down, get some feedback
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  Speaker 3: from those on the ground about what they would like
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  Speaker 3: to see and perhaps what some of the causes of
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  Speaker 3: this escalation of violence is. It went nowhere. It was
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  Speaker 3: dead in the water after one meeting. So it's a
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  Speaker 3: really sad state of affairs when the government say we'll
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: give you one meeting and that's it. We want to
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  Speaker 3: see that be regenerated and of course have a serious
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  Speaker 3: look at what can be done.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Paul.
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  Speaker 1: We're just about out of time, but I want to
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  Speaker 1: ask you very quickly. Yesterday the Queensland government announced a
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: major backflip on contentious youth crime reform. They're going to
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: reintroduce breach of bail as an offense. Now they dug
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: their heels in on this and said that they weren't
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: going to do it.
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  Speaker 2: They are now going to introduce this. Should this be
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: happening in the Northern Territory?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess it's refreshing, isn't it to see a
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  Speaker 3: government perhaps say, look, we got it wrong. We didn't
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  Speaker 3: perhaps have everything in place that was required when they
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: made these initial reforms, and it sadly took a tragedy
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  Speaker 3: over there in Queensland for you know, for this action
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  Speaker 3: to take place. So you know, it's good that Queensland
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: have gone down this path, and of course the Northern
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: Territory as well have previously undertaken this, and we no doubt,
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  Speaker 3: you know, certainly the feedback from our members is there
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  Speaker 3: just certainly wasn't enough alternatives in place when they did
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  Speaker 3: remove that offensive breach of bail, So you know, certainly
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  Speaker 3: there's there's work to be done here, and no doubt
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  Speaker 3: you know the government will be looking closely at this
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  Speaker 3: decision by Queensland.
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  Speaker 1: All our officers saying to you that youth are offending
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  Speaker 1: while they're on bail in the Northern territory. Is this
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  Speaker 1: like would it make a difference?
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  Speaker 2: Look?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, I mean it's somewhat of a revolving door essentially,
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  Speaker 3: you know, because we're out other alternatives in place, and
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  Speaker 3: we certainly know we don't want to see you in
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  Speaker 3: custody or in facilities such as don Dale, but in
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  Speaker 3: the absence of any other suitable alternative, well, you know,
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  Speaker 3: we've got to protect the community. At the end of
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  Speaker 3: the day, it's them that are suffering because of these
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  Speaker 3: changes to legislation, so they need to have a good
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  Speaker 3: hard look at it. And no doubt our members are
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  Speaker 3: going to provide some feedback now this decision has come
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: through from Queensland.
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  Speaker 1: Paul, I've unfortunately run out of time, but I know
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: that that survey is going to be closing in a
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  Speaker 1: few days, isn't ith.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's not far away, Katie, So we'll have some results,
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: certainly by the end of this week.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: I sug guess well, we'll catch up with you then
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  Speaker 1: Paul Mchue, the president of the Northern Territory Police Association.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: I always appreciate your time. Thanks Katie, thank you.