Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Assistant Commissioner Martin Dole says police warned people to avoid the Alice Springs CBD last night after three stolen cars were driven around dangerously

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Assistant Commissioner Martin Dole says police warned people to avoid the Alice Springs CBD last night after three stolen cars were driven around dangerously · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: From all accounts, a pretty dangerous situation in the CBD
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of Alice Springs overnight.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Joining us on the line to.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Tell us more about exactly what went on, it is
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Martin Dole, the Assistant Commissioner of Regional and Remote Policing.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Martin.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Katie. How are you this morning?
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Not too bad?
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Tell me what exactly happened last night from a police perspective.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Well, last night, Katie, we had another spate of horrific
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: behavior by youth in Alice Springs. It flows from a
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: really bad week last week and over the weekend, we've
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: had a number of stolen motor vehicles, and we've had
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: a number of youth driving these stolen motor vehicles in
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  Speaker 3: an absolutely dangerous manner in the CBD, putting everyone's lives
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: at risk, putting the risks of the public, lives of
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: the public at risk, the lives of the police at risk,
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: and the lives of themselves at risk. Fortunately, those vehicles
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: were all apprehended overnight, and we were able to arrest
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: five youth from one of those vehicles, and all of
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: those vehicles were recovered far out.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: So how many cars are we talking about here?
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: So we had three stylin last night and all three
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: of those vehicles were driving in a totally, totally dangerous
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: manner in the CBD in the early hours of this morning,
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: which prompted police to put out a Facebook post warning
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: the public about being in the CBD and the risk
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: to them from these vehicles.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner, have you ever issued a statement like that
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: online before warning people to not go into the city
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: or into the CBD in Central Australia.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: We haven't for a while. I'd look, it is uncommon.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: I believe we have done it previously, but not in
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: my time being here since January this year. But it
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: was just such a risk to the public. This behavior
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: was totally unacceptable and we had real fears for community
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: safety with the driving behaviors of these youths in this
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  Speaker 3: in these stylo motor vehicles.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: It's bloody frightening. Look, I said this earlier this morning.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: It's not only frightening that those youths are putting themselves
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: at risk, but they're then putting the public at risk.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: But then it's my understanding, and please correct me if
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: I'm wrong, that they were then trying to ram the
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: marked police vehicle.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's correct, Katie, You're not wrong. They were targeting
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: police vehicles, they were targeting unmarked police vehicles, they were
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: baiting police into chasing them. They were putting everybody at risk.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: And we've seen, you know, we've seen the tragedy that
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: can result from this type of behavior several years ago
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: in Alice Springs with unfortunately a fatal accident resulting from
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: similar behavior to this, and it's just totally unacceptable, totally
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: disregard for the public safety, in their own safety, and
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: it's just got to stop.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner, are you worried that somebody is going to
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: be heart or worse still lose their life if something
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: like this continues to happen.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: Of course, I'm worried, Katie. It's like I said, you
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  Speaker 3: can't get anything more dangerous than a weapon like a
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: vehicle being used to target people, drive deliberately at them
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: in the hope of causing accidents, or in the hope
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: of baiting police into chasing them and chasing them with
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: lights and sirens. Public safety is our number one priority,
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: and our aim is to try and apprehend these vehicles,
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: catch these criminals, which is what they are. When they're
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: behaving like this and keep the public safe.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: So what ended up happening last night?
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  Speaker 1: Did the police have to be pulled from the CBD
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: or did they continue to pursue these youths who had
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: stolen that vehicle despite the fact that it was incredibly
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: dangerous for them.
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: No, we had to come up with resolution strategies, Katie.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: So despite what people think, we can't ram these vehicles
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: and send them off the road. We have to come
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: up with strategies of tire spiking and where it's safe
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: to actually put tire spikes to apprehend these vehicles so
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: that we create as little community risk as possible. So
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: we came up with a resolution strategy. The main offending
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: vehicle was tire spiked and later abandoned the Todd River,
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: and we apprehended five youths fleeing from that vehicle. The
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: other two vehicles were abandoned in the CBD and shortly
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: recovered a short time later.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: What's happened with those five years now? Are they still
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: in custody?
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  Speaker 3: So I'm led to believe, Katie, that we've still got
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: two in custody. Three of those are being considered for
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: a diversion under the Youth Justices Act, and there's two
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  Speaker 3: being considered for charges in relation to those offenses.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: How does that make you guys feel.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, I know that this is all part of it,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the Youth Diversion Act, and how they need to be
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: considered for that, but I'm assuming that your officers are
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: feeling like they're in a pretty bloody dangerous situation last
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: night and then to think that those kids could be
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: back out on the streets tonight.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, I think everyone's exasperated, Katie, the public exasperated,
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: the police are exasperated. But just a bit clear that
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: diversions not no consequences. I mean these we can't keep
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: these children in police custody indefinitely, regardless of the fact
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: whether they're going to be charged or subject to youth diversion.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: They're going to be released from police custody at some
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  Speaker 3: stage and subject to either attending court and going through
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: the judicial system or undertaking diversion. And if that's not successful,
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: then after diversion, they'll be diverted to the court and
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: go through the judicial system.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner, can I ask how many vehicles have been
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: stolen over the last week or so in Central Australia
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  Speaker 1: because some of that vision I said it earlier, looks
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: like scenes out of Grand theft.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Also it does.
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  Speaker 3: It's completely unacceptable and unsafe behavior that Katie. I don't
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: have an accurate number that I can give you exactly.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: I know that we had over the weekend, we had
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: ten motor vehicles stolen. All of those have been recovered,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: and there was another three last night. But I would
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: say I'm probably underestimating the number because I don't have
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: that exact figure for you. But it's just totally unacceptable
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  Speaker 3: and it needs to stop.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, you sound like you're exasperated by as you've said.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Can I ask, so, what's going to happen tonight? Is
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: there going to be an additional surge with the police force.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Are you going to need to call in the TRG
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: or additional police officers from other parts of the Northern Territory.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: No, Katie, We've got lots of police here and we
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: are on the street and we did apprehend these vehicles
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: last night. What we're hoping is a circuit breaker in
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: some of these ring leaders that are leading these groups
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: of children that believe that this type of behavior is
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: either fun or entertaining because it's absolutely not. It's criminal
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: behavior and it's putting the public at risk. So we're
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: hoping that identifying some of these ring leaders and dealing
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: with them is going to put a bit of a
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  Speaker 3: circuit breaker into this.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: And is some work happening today to try and identify
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: those people.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: Well, like I said, we've got five in custody and
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: we've got a number of other identified people that we're
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: following up. That's absolutely right.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner, what is your message for the people of
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Valas Springs today, because I know that there's a lot
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: of them contacting me this morning. A lot of them
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: are listening. They you've already said it. I mean, they're exasperated.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: People are at their wits end.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: I understand that, Katie. I'm not trying to sugarcoat it
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: at all, but I do want to inform the public
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: that the police are out there trying to keep people safe.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: We're working incredibly hard to identify these offenders and stop
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  Speaker 3: this type of behavior, and please have some faith in
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  Speaker 3: your police force and the other agencies that are working
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  Speaker 3: to stop these behaviors. So there's a lot of work
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: going on with these youth and This is not an anomaly.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: This has been going on for a long time and
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  Speaker 3: we've had really unreasonable rates and it appears to be continuing,
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  Speaker 3: but we're working really hard to try and put a
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: stop to that.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, do you think that at the moment the
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: situation is worse than what it's been though, it's.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: As worse as I've ever seen, Katie. It's at very
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: high levels, and it's been at continuing high levels for
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: a long time now.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Well, Assistant Commision to Martin Dole, I always appreciate your time.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you for having a chat to us this morning.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: All the best to all of our police officers, and look,
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad that none of them were injured last night
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: because it does look as though it was such a
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: dangerous situation for everyone.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: So I'm Okatian. Thanks for your tom. Yeah, guys did
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: a great job and I'm really glad no one got
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: injured as well, particularly our police or any of the
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: members of the public.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: So thank you to thank you