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Katie Woolf spoke with NT Police Acting Commander Tony Deutrom · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining us on the line right now is Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: Police Acting Commander for the Darwin Region, Tony Dutroum. Good
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: morning to you, Tony, Good morning Katie. Tony. Let's talk
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  Speaker 1: through these crime stats that were released on Friday. I
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  Speaker 1: know that they basically are that they are for the
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  Speaker 1: year ending January twenty twenty one, So really we're looking
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  Speaker 1: at a period of time that was last year during COVID.
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  Speaker 1: Is that correct?
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  Speaker 2: Probably just before, Katie, So January twenty twenty three to
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  Speaker 2: the end of January twenty one, just before COVID kicked
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  Speaker 2: in proper across the territory and Australia. I guess so. Yes.
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  Speaker 2: Some of those figures that we've got in relation to
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  Speaker 2: property crime, we've seen some significant decreases in properly crime
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  Speaker 2: across the Northern Territory. So house break ins are down
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  Speaker 2: eighteen percent, commercial break ins a down twenty six percent.
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  Speaker 2: Across the territory. From a Darwent perspective, house break ins
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  Speaker 2: a down thirty eight percent, commercial break ins are down
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  Speaker 2: thirty nine percent, and from Palmston house breakings down eleven
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  Speaker 2: percent and commercial breakings have decreased by nine percent. So
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  Speaker 2: from a property related perspective. Across the territory. We've seen
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  Speaker 2: some significant decreases, which is promising. However, there are some
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  Speaker 2: areas of concern and relation defense against the person.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it looks that way. I'm just taking a look
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  Speaker 1: at the stats now before we go into those assaults
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  Speaker 1: and crimes against the person. I know in Alice Springs,
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  Speaker 1: unfortunately they've bucked the trend and Alice Springs breakings were
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  Speaker 1: up twenty five percent, weren't they.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's correct, breakings up twenty five percent, and houses
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  Speaker 2: by commercial breakings have seen a decrease by one percent.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, as I've touched on previously, Cudie not
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  Speaker 2: my area, but I can reaffirm that there is a
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  Speaker 2: significant body of work being undertaken in Alice Springs. Strike
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  Speaker 2: Force VIPER supported by officers from around the territory. Nineteen
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  Speaker 2: officers are working tremendously hard, supported by the General Duties
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  Speaker 2: Police there and they've seen some significant outcomes and hopefully
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  Speaker 2: those trends going forward in the following months, we'll see
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  Speaker 2: some decreases and those two areas of concern.
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  Speaker 1: Tony, why do you reckon it is that at the moment,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, some people are going to be listening right
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  Speaker 1: now and thinking, how on earth are some of these
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  Speaker 1: stats so low when crime seems to be a real
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  Speaker 1: issue for a lot of territories right now.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think last time I spoke to Katie, if
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  Speaker 2: you are a victim of crime, regardless of what the
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  Speaker 2: stats are, if that's the front and center in your
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  Speaker 2: mind from a recent experience, So the stats don't mean
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  Speaker 2: too much. But you know, we stick to the stats.
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  Speaker 2: The stats are what they are. Property crime has seen
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  Speaker 2: significant decreases, and so we've got to be happy with
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  Speaker 2: those decreases we've seen, but clearly in some areas is
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  Speaker 2: some more work to be done.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, now, I know that when we talk about some
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  Speaker 1: of these crime statistics, obviously there's a lot of focus
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  Speaker 1: on whether it's youth committing crimes or whether it's adults
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  Speaker 1: committing crimes. Is there a breakdown in those status to
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  Speaker 1: reflect those you know, those two different groups.
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  Speaker 2: No, those groups aren't distinguishing the crime stats that we
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  Speaker 2: see released on the monthly basis. Codie. I guess ultimately
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  Speaker 2: there is a component of both the youth related crime
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  Speaker 2: and adult related crime within those stats, but we don't
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  Speaker 2: distinguish them with the monthly stats that we have out,
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  Speaker 2: do you.
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  Speaker 1: Reckon we should be?
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  Speaker 2: Probably not a matter for me, Katy. I guess the
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  Speaker 2: rareity is youth related crimes topical at the moment throughout
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  Speaker 2: the northern territory. It's a whole lot of throughout Olie
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  Speaker 2: Springs and Tanning Creek more recently on occasion up in
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  Speaker 2: the top end. But what our focus has got to
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  Speaker 2: be from a police perspective, We've got to look at
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  Speaker 2: and we we're throwing this term around a little bit,
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  Speaker 2: but it's going to take some time to make those changes.
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  Speaker 2: But clearly there's some work to be done because what's
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  Speaker 2: leading these children out in about middle of the night.
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  Speaker 2: They are children. Not to excuse or support any of
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  Speaker 2: their behaviors. Some it is quite horrific and horrendous. But
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  Speaker 2: what's making these kids come out on the street and
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  Speaker 2: the middle of the night. What does their household look
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  Speaker 2: like after ours? Is it a safe place? Is our
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  Speaker 2: alcohol in there? Is their family dysfunction? Why are these
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  Speaker 2: kids coming out in the street. Clearly there's a breakdown
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  Speaker 2: within the family units. And we say this is going
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  Speaker 2: to take some time, but over the territory constantly we
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  Speaker 2: see these stories popping up, but we've got to take
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  Speaker 2: some dramatic action in relations to rectifying what's going on
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  Speaker 2: in those households, because if it's not a safe and
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  Speaker 2: nurturing and environment in the household, they're going to come
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  Speaker 2: out into the CBD, they're going to come out into
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  Speaker 2: the suburbs, and they're going to get up to no good.
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  Speaker 2: So we need to address that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent. Let's take a look at these
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  Speaker 1: assault numbers, or certainly crimes against the person, as you said,
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  Speaker 1: you know, in some locations, obviously it's not looking good.
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  Speaker 1: Total assaults obviously up twenty two percent, alcohol related assaults
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  Speaker 1: up thirty one percent. This is across the territory. DV
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  Speaker 1: assaults upw and you know, then when you sort of
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  Speaker 1: break those down in some of our different locations, the
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  Speaker 1: numbers are pretty horrifying. Even when you look out in Palmerston,
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  Speaker 1: some of those alcohol related assaults up sixty two percent.
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  Speaker 1: You know, this must be something that the territory police
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  Speaker 1: are going to be looking to focus on.
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  Speaker 2: For sure. Okay, none of those stats are anything to
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  Speaker 2: be proud of. The clear fact is that alcohol continues
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  Speaker 2: to be a contributing factor to alcalorelated offending in the territory,
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  Speaker 2: and it has a close correlation to domestic violence assaults
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  Speaker 2: that is replicated into those households where these kids come
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  Speaker 2: from that become involved in youthfulated crime. Clearly, access and
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  Speaker 2: consumption of alcohol continues to be a problem in the territory.
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  Speaker 2: We've done a body of work government collectively, other agencies
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  Speaker 2: including police, but there's more to be done. If we're
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  Speaker 2: seeing these statistics here, we need to take stock and say, right,
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  Speaker 2: what else can we do? Yeah, Northern Territory in December
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  Speaker 2: alone saw for over five hundred and two thousand transactions
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  Speaker 2: of alcohol through takeaway outlets in the Northern Territory. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: that's quite a horrific figure. There was five hundred and
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  Speaker 2: thirty five people that were knocked back through the band
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  Speaker 2: drinkers register, but again over five hundred and two thousand
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  Speaker 2: transactions of takeaway alcohol. So clearly this takeaway alcohol has
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  Speaker 2: continued to impact on the safety and welfare of the
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  Speaker 2: territory and we need to have a look at how
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  Speaker 2: we can tighten that up a bit further.
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  Speaker 1: Tony, there was obviously this alcohol blitz just a couple
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  Speaker 1: of weeks ago you and I had spoken about a
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  Speaker 1: few weeks ago. When you're in the studio. How did
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  Speaker 1: that blitz go and has it shown you that there
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  Speaker 1: are different areas that need to be focused on. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: What it become clear to us which is probably already Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: front and center for us, Caddie. There's a number of
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  Speaker 2: people in the Greater Daalen area that have come from
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  Speaker 2: external communities, a number of people here that have issues
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  Speaker 2: with alcohol. And what we've done with the Operation Extreme
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  Speaker 2: was a three day operation. Unfortunately, a number of people
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  Speaker 2: were taken into custody. We saw around ninety nine people
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  Speaker 2: taken into custody for the period. We undertook one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and twenty nine referrals to support agencies, including those involved
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  Speaker 2: in some of this behavior. Two hundred and sixteen people
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  Speaker 2: were moved on. We had one hundred and thirty odd
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  Speaker 2: leaders tipped out, and importantly, a number of point of
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  Speaker 2: intervention strategies that we adopted was which are the posies
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  Speaker 2: that are ordinarily seen in Catherine Tennecreek and Ella Springs.
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  Speaker 2: We adopted on a temporary basis throughout the operation, and
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  Speaker 2: we had fifty people turned away. They were intending to
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  Speaker 2: make purchases of takeaway. So the fact that these people
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  Speaker 2: continue to come to the Greatadauan Area that have issues
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  Speaker 2: with alcohol tells me that they're accessing alcohol within the territory,
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  Speaker 2: within the Greatadayan Area rather. And we've got some emergency
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  Speaker 2: powers in place which require people to satisfy legitimate address
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  Speaker 2: in order to establish that takeaway transaction. But for me,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's enough, Kadie. If we're going
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  Speaker 2: to be honest with ourselves, we've got to say what
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  Speaker 2: is the draw card to do on People have got
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  Speaker 2: a right to come to down on a whole day
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  Speaker 2: or move around the territory as they see fit. But
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  Speaker 2: if you're engaging in this behavior and you're accessing alcohol here,
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  Speaker 2: then we need to have a look at some more measures.
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  Speaker 1: Well what I mean, really, what can we be doing?
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  Speaker 1: Do we need to look at allowing small amounts of
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  Speaker 1: alcohol in some of those communities if it is community
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  Speaker 1: led by you know, by our women, If our women
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  Speaker 1: in those communities are okay with us, that's.
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  Speaker 2: A broader discussion for the territory, Katie. But I think
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  Speaker 2: you know, when you look at those crimes that's alone
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  Speaker 2: with alcohol, we've got to ask ourselves as a community,
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  Speaker 2: is this satisfactory? And clearly it's not so all of
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  Speaker 2: the stakeholders, those that sell the takeaway alcohol, those that
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  Speaker 2: are looking to make a safer place in the territory,
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  Speaker 2: those that are targeted to look after families, sure kids
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  Speaker 2: are going to school, police involved. Are we doing enough?
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  Speaker 2: Are we coming up with enough ideas out of the box,
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  Speaker 2: because clearly the settings we've got at the moment aren't
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  Speaker 2: getting the outcomes that we need in relation to alcohol
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  Speaker 2: related harm in the territory. And unfortunately, sorry Katie, the
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  Speaker 2: indigenous females in the territory continue to be the subject
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  Speaker 2: of horrendous violence and often that's got a correlation to alcohol.
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  Speaker 1: Which is some of it is absolutely horrific, Tony. Can
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  Speaker 1: I ask how many people were done for secondary supply
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  Speaker 1: or was anybody done for secondary supply over that blitz period?
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  Speaker 2: No, but there was no prosecutions in relation to that.
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  Speaker 2: It was a short, short, three day operation, Katie. But
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  Speaker 2: importantly in relation to that a number of people have
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  Speaker 2: turned away. Some intelligence was gathered in relationship to those
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  Speaker 2: persons that were seeking to make transactions and we were
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  Speaker 2: able to submit six intelligence reports in relation to people
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  Speaker 2: that they have been seeking to undertake suspicious transactions and
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  Speaker 2: including potential for our secondary supply.
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  Speaker 1: Now we are running out of time, but I do
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  Speaker 1: want to ask you about an incident that he's being
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  Speaker 1: reported over the weekend. The Anti Independent is reporting that
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  Speaker 1: three male teenagers who were out on bail allegedly attempted
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  Speaker 1: to rape a woman at Pinelands in January, but it
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  Speaker 1: was only described as an aggravated assault in a media
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  Speaker 1: release which went out, which police inside has said was
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  Speaker 1: a deliberate measure to cover up sex crimes for the
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  Speaker 1: Gunner government. Can I ask why are some of the
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  Speaker 1: details of these serious incidents not being made public?
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  Speaker 2: Katie? There is and there will not be a cover
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  Speaker 2: up by Northern Territory Police on behalf of anyone. Offenses,
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  Speaker 2: including sexual assault, are very sensitive matter. Northern Territory Police
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  Speaker 2: are governed by sexual assault evidence and procedures act in
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  Speaker 2: relation to what we can really A media release was
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: provided in relation to an incident that occurred on the
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  Speaker 2: twelfth of January. That release went out on the thirteenth
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  Speaker 2: of January. When that release went out, some of the
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: investigation progress was in its infancy. The information provided was
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  Speaker 2: in relation to offending of aggravatus of what I can
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  Speaker 2: say in relation to that matter, with that going into
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  Speaker 2: too much detail, that there was a aspect of indecent
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  Speaker 2: assault alleged in relation to that matter, We've got to
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  Speaker 2: be very careful about what we provide at into the
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  Speaker 2: public space. And bearing in mind that release came out
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: while the investigation hadn't been progressed too far. So that
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: was the information that was available at that time. And
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  Speaker 2: the distinction is sometimes caudy in between public interest and
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: what the public might find interesting. We've got to be
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  Speaker 2: careful about the victim's identity, the offender's identity, and large
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: to fall within certain primeters legislation that exists in Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: And that's what we've done, Tony.
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  Speaker 1: I am going to have to leave it there. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: we've run out of time. I've got to play the
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  Speaker 1: ads before we choof off to the national news. Appreciate
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: your time today, and I understand you're going to be
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: heading off to Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 2: Correct a change of scenery back to the center, Katie.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Good on you, and well, I'm sure we'll probably be
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: catching up with you while you're down there anyway, Tony,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: thanks so much for your time.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, good morning.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: That's the Northern Territory Police Acting Commander there, Tony Doutram