Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Police Association President Paul McCue says a review into the force is absolutely needed with the last one conducted 10 years ago

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NT Police Association President Paul McCue says a review into the force is absolutely needed with the last one conducted 10 years ago · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Few clangers dropped by the Police Minister earlier this morning
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: or just before. They are doing a review into the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: financial structure of the police force. There is a full
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: review into how the police force is set up. They
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: are obviously looking at the disciplinary process and where the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: legislation needs to be changed when it comes to that
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: disciplinary process.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: They are also I believe, well I.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Don't know if that review has been conducted yet, but
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: into the well being of our police force, the Minister
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: confirming that it certainly does need attention and that they're
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: looking at targeted solutions into antisocial behavior. Now, I've got
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: to tell you I had absolutely no idea that a
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: restructure was even on the table before that interview with
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the Chief or with the Police Minister this morning. Now
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  Speaker 1: joining me on the line right now is the Police
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Association President Paul Mcheu. Good morning to you, Paul, morning Katie.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: How are you not too bad now? Paul, I'm not
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: sure if you got to hear much of that interview
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: with the Police Minister, but apparently a full review you
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: into the financial structure of the police force underway as
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: well as a review into the setup. So absolutely, the
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Minister said a restructure of the police force is on
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the table.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Paul, were you aware that this works underway?
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, I guess we had an indication certainly that
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: the Minister wanted to, I guess, look into the books,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: look into how polices are operating, how the structure is
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: set up. But ultimately this really had to come, didn't it.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: When you look at the results of our survey, ninety
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: three percent of those thousand people that responded it said
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: we just don't have enough. Yet we've got government saying
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: we've got record numbers, record budget, so something just simply
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: wasn't adding up when you've got conflicting views. When you
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: look at the rank and file, they've made it quite
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: clear despite these record numbers, you know, where is everyone?
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Essentially the question, and I guess the Minister's committed now
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: to making sure we have a look at where you
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: know what that answer might be, which is positive news
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: from our perspective.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Well, and Paul, obviously she said, you know, the review
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: into the financial structure of the police force, a review
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: into how it's set up, and that that restructure a
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: restructure of the police force is on the table. Also
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: looking into those disciplinary processes and whether legislation needs to change.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: She reckons well being into the police force needs needs attention,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: and that they're going to look at targeted solutions into
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: anti social behavior. Paul, from your perspective, will this go
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: far enough?
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, obviously the wellbeing reviews, you know that certainly
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: was undertaken late last year and early this year. But
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: of course that still requires significant investment for that to
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: have an impact on people in the job and how
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: people are feeling. But certainly the reviewer or the work
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: being undertaken around other organizations, whether it be government or
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: non government, picking up their piece of a puzzle. I
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: guess if you like to really take some of that
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: workload off police, because ultimately, you know, as you know,
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: and we've spoken about this a lot, that police are
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: always ten tend to be there. They're the ones being
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: asked to pick up the slack where no one else
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: is there, and you know, we simply can't continue to
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: do that.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Another thing that I heard very loudly and clearly from
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: what she was saying throughout that interview this morning, is
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: that she wants more police on the ground, She wants
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: more police community engagement. Do you think that that's possible
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: based on the number of cops that we've got right now.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: Well, the short answer is no. I mean, based on
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: the feedback from our members, they simply don't have enough
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: even to get a van on the road at times
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: yet alone have a lot of proactive work done in
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  Speaker 3: the community. And you know, probably what we're talking about
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: there is foot patrols through the CBD, you know, both
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: both here in Darwin as well as perhaps down in
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: our springs. But certainly the feedback from our membership is
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: we don't have enough just to do the front line
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: work or response work and responding to people calls for assistance,
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: shedalone that really important proactive work in the community that
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: needs to be done.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, we.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Keep hearing from the government that there's a larger investment
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: than ever before and there's more police in the force
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: than ever before.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: If that's the case, where are all the officers.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Guess when you look back a couple of years, there
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: was that period We've spoken about this before about the
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: lack of recruitment for twelve months of constable positions. I
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: think that's really biting now when you look at the
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: vacancies we have in Darwin. So whilst they're saying we've
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: got record numbers. When you talk about funded positions versus
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: the actual people in those positions, there is an issue
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: because we've got several vacancies for example here in Darwen
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: not Field at the moment. And also when you look
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: at the heavy investment into the police auxiliary liquors scheme,
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: inspector scheme. Now, they're not general duties frontline response personnel.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: So you know if they're including those seventy five positions
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: as well, well, that's a bit of a fold in
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: a position when you say that they're actually not frontline
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: responders to the community's concerns. So I guess that's why
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: the minister's saying, well, let's have a look at the books,
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: let's see where people are, what they're doing, and see
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: if a restructure can help alleviate some of the concerns.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Now, obviously the opposition leader Leofanochiaro had been calling for
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: a Select committee to also look into the police force.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: I know that I understand that that leg or that
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: that motion is going to be happening at about ten
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: o'clock this morning. Paul, do you think that that still
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: needs to happen now that we know obviously these reviews
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: are taking place or what are your thoughts.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean the Minister's committed to having a look.
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: But ultimately this is a further example of what we
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: need to do to really take our head out of
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: the sand, so to speak. Really there are concerns around
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: attrition rates, as concerns around how police are feeling in
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: the force at the moment and also what they're being
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: asked to do on a day to day basis. And
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: we know that because that's direct feedback from our recent survey,
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: so we know the motion from our position today is
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: more than likely going to be knocked on the head.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: I think the government have made that fairly fear. But
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: it has been ten years since a full external independent
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: review was taken undertaken in the police force, including you know,
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: what police are expected to do every single day they
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: go to work, whether it be dealing with a family
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: domestic violence matter, or a car accident or whatever the
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: case may be. We really need to have a look
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: because the inherent requirements of what police are being asked
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: to do these days are far greater than they were
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: just five years ago, yet alone ten years. So absolutely
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: there needs to be some sort of review into how
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: police are operating and what they're being asked to do
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: every day.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Now, Paul, do you think that as part of this restructure,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: I mean the minister saying that absolutely a restructure is
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: on the table, do you expect that there would be
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: job losses as a result of that restructure.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: Oh, look, I'm not sure that. I can't possibly see
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: in the current environment how you could say there's going
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: to be a lot of positions and if anything, you
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: would suggest the feedback and the figures would show we
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: need an increase, not a decrease. And you know the
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: reason I say that is quite frankly, whilst we're saying
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: we've got record numbers, you know, what we've been asking
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: our police to do nowadays, you know, is far greater
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: than ever before. So I wouldn't have thought the community
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: want to hear the government come out and say we're
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: going to have less police positions. I think that would
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: be a complete disaster.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you, particularly after you know, hearing
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: throughout that survey, like you've said that we've got our
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: police saying that they don't feel there's enough of them
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: to be able to, you know, to do their job.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Paul, I do want to ask you.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: We know that last week, you know, it wasn't a
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: great week for the Northern Territory Police in the sense
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: that there were officers charged, there was another officer.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Who who was arrested.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: What support is provided by the Police Association and what
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: was reaction to that situation last week.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, obviously we provide support no matter what eventuates.
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: And you know, whilst we certainly won't talk about specific matters,
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: any officer that finds themselves in trouble, whether it be
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: internally through the discipline process or externally being charged with
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: an offense, we provided advice and guidance for those people
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: and it's a very I think what's really frustrating from
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: our perspective, there was a lot of misinformation put out
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: through the media around some of the information on those matters,
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: which you know, these are people with families and and
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: you know, and they were really hurt by some of
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: the things that were put out. And you know, fact
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: checking is really important if a media outlet wants to
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: put some information out, get your facts right, because people
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: are affected significantly, and you know, we were there to
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: support many of these individuals and will continue to do so.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: But you know, regardless of what's being alleged at the moment,
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: we need to let that process take it course, but
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: we'll continue to provide that support and advice that's required.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Well, was there something specific that you're wanting to sort
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: of say that the media had reported that was incorrect or.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: There several outlets we're linking a particular police officer to
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: another particular officer who was also charged at a similar time. Now,
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to go in specifics, but people need
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: to get their facts right before they put matters out
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: in the public domain. That can significantly affect now our officers,
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: our members who were doing a tough job, and don't forget,
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: you know, the very difficult job for those people who
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: are investigating those matters as well. And you know, it
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: really does play a significant negative impact on those people's
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: health and well being, and we need to make sure
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: we're not going down that path.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Paul, I'm very fast running out of time. One quick
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: question for you. We know that obviously tougher consequences for
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: spitting on frontline emergency workers. It's going to be debated
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory Parliament this week. The colp are
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: pushing for mandatory jail sentences for anyone who spits on
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: or assaults a frontline worker, even if it's their first offense,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: while the government wants to bring in greater penalties.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Paul, what do you reckon?
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: Look, we obviously will support this legislation. Any increase in
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: maximum penalty is good around around assaults on our members.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: But of course, you know, we're very heavily focused on
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: the minimums and eating provisions, and you know, spitting is
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: a completely vile, disgusting act, and we do support the legislation,
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: but certainly we'll want to continue to push for that
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: minimum provision to be improved. The maximums are already very strong,
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: but we do support the legislation going through.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Police Association President Paul mckew, We appreciate your time this morning,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for speaking with us.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: Good on you.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you,