Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Police Association Acting President Lisa Bayliss says a lack of investment in boosting frontline workers is disappointing as it's something members have been calling for

Transcript

NT Police Association Acting President Lisa Bayliss says a lack of investment in boosting frontline workers is disappointing as it's something members have been calling for · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: But joining me in the studio right now is see
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police Association Acting President Lisa Baylor's good morning
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  Speaker 1: to you. Good morning, Katie, Thanks so much for your
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  Speaker 1: time this morning. Now, Lisa, what was your reaction to
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory budget yesterday from that real policing perspective.
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  Speaker 2: Well, look, we're actually a bit disappointed. We think that
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  Speaker 2: currently in the community there's a real focus on law
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  Speaker 2: and order issues and this budget hasn't really addressed that
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  Speaker 2: at all. We've actually seen a small invest further investment
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  Speaker 2: into the Northern Territory Police, but we know from our
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  Speaker 2: members they've been crying out saying we don't have enough
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  Speaker 2: place to do our job, and this budget does not
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  Speaker 2: address that at all.
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  Speaker 1: And we've seen that, hadn't we In that survey that
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  Speaker 1: was conducted towards the end of last year. That was
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  Speaker 1: the real sense from our rank and file officers that
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  Speaker 1: there's not enough police officers to do their job or
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  Speaker 1: the job that's being asked of them. The community is
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  Speaker 1: really really grateful and respectful for the work that Territory
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  Speaker 1: Police do, but we want to make sure there's enough
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  Speaker 1: of them that they're able to really to go to
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  Speaker 1: all those calls, call outs that they're getting.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Katie. And look, I know that our members
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  Speaker 2: do an incredible job with the amount of resources that
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  Speaker 2: they have, and often a lot of the work that's
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  Speaker 2: done is done on overtime. We can't just walk away
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  Speaker 2: midway through a crime series or crime break. You have
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  Speaker 2: to actually see that through. So our members do an
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  Speaker 2: incredible amount of overtime, and then of course over time
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  Speaker 2: they actually get fatigued from that and we have burnout
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  Speaker 2: and members book off sick, and then of course other
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  Speaker 2: people step in the gap and they have to cover that.
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  Speaker 2: So we've seen over the last couple of years our
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  Speaker 2: members are saying, look, what's been asked for us by
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  Speaker 2: government is just not sustainable and we need more resources
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  Speaker 2: to do our job.
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  Speaker 1: So, Lisa, where does the budget fall short? Is it
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  Speaker 1: that operational fundings should there have been more?
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  Speaker 2: Look, Look, definitely, and we had to look at the
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  Speaker 2: federal the federal government they've they've committed to money for
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  Speaker 2: a thirty additional police seller springs. We don't know what
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  Speaker 2: the makeup of that's going to be, whether it's going
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  Speaker 2: to be parleys or constables. I really hope it is constables,
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  Speaker 2: because that's where the real need is in the care community,
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  Speaker 2: for police to attend all jobs, not to stand in
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  Speaker 2: front of a bottle shop. But I still question that
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  Speaker 2: that federal funding. What was the plan for the government
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  Speaker 2: if that funding hadn't come through. All springs is the
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  Speaker 2: community they desperately need more police. But everywhere in the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory we have escalating levels of crime. It's a
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  Speaker 2: massive problem in terms of domestic violence and violent crime
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  Speaker 2: in general, and we need police to be on the
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  Speaker 2: ground to help it. We've also seen a huge increase
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  Speaker 2: in lawful entries, theft of motor vehicles, damage of property.
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  Speaker 2: It's not abating, it's just continuing.
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  Speaker 1: And then we're also seeing that real violence with things
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  Speaker 1: like knife crime. And we've spoken a lot in recent
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  Speaker 1: weeks about really tragic, tragic circumstances, but that issue of
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  Speaker 1: knife crime, it is it doesn't seem to be getting
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  Speaker 1: any better.
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  Speaker 2: No, we have seen a change in the community, but
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  Speaker 2: our fenders carrying weapons, I mean, we've always had weapons
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  Speaker 2: has been part of our makeup within the Northern Territory,
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  Speaker 2: but there has been a huge escalation of knife crime
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  Speaker 2: and other weapons and I think predominantly normally that's been
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  Speaker 2: out in communities. We know from our members who've been
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  Speaker 2: attacked or seen that violence. But that's moving into other
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  Speaker 2: regions and there is an escalation general people being targeted
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  Speaker 2: in their own homes. It's horrifying.
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  Speaker 1: At lesa nineteen million dollars for the police station in Pepperminati.
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  Speaker 1: Have we got the staff to be able to police it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, there's no detail on how many officers are going
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  Speaker 2: to be stationed there. And again I was asked this
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  Speaker 2: question yesterday and I questioned, we haven't yet had the
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  Speaker 2: resource review. It's something we've been calling from for a
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  Speaker 2: long time. The government has committed to that. We know
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  Speaker 2: that at the Coronials, Deputy small Page said we need
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  Speaker 2: an additional three hundred police officers and on top of
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  Speaker 2: that an additional five hundred million dollars for our police budget.
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  Speaker 2: That's an incredible amount of money, but it actually reflects
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  Speaker 2: what's going on in the community. So to commit to
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  Speaker 2: building a nineteen million dollar police station pepper Minarti before
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  Speaker 2: this review is done is extraordinary.
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  Speaker 1: So you reckon It's like are you sort of scratching
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  Speaker 1: your head on that one?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's needed, but there's lots of needs everywhere in
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory, and without a proper analysis of what
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  Speaker 2: our current and existing needs are in all areas in
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  Speaker 2: the Norman Territory, to commit to something an extraordinary cost
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  Speaker 2: of nineteen million dollars, I understand that's the cost usually
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  Speaker 2: building in the communities, but without actually considering what else
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  Speaker 2: is needed, I don't know if it's responsible spending of
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  Speaker 2: that money.
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  Speaker 1: Now, let's talk about this three million dollars in funding
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  Speaker 1: to support the recommendations of the review into mental health
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  Speaker 1: and well being support. Is that something that's welcomed Absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: We lobby the government for years we actually needed to
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  Speaker 2: have a health and wellbeen review. We finally got that done. Look,
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  Speaker 2: it's taken a little bit of time for the money
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  Speaker 2: to come through, and we know that last year was
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  Speaker 2: a particularly difficult year for our members in terms of
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  Speaker 2: we had a number of suicides happened from police officers,
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  Speaker 2: so it's been a really difficult time for our membership.
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  Speaker 2: But again, I don't know how this money is going
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  Speaker 2: to be spent. There's no detail that's been provided to
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  Speaker 2: us just yet, and I'm hoping that it'll actually achieve
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  Speaker 2: some real outcomes for our members.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Lisa, we know that the acting Police Commissioner, Michael
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  Speaker 1: Murphy was out yesterday and said that he's considering considering
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  Speaker 1: queens and style knife crime reforms that they could be
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  Speaker 1: rolled out in the territory following a spate of that
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  Speaker 1: knife crime like we've spoken about. The acting Police Commissioner
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  Speaker 1: said on Tuesday that police were investigating whether handheld metal
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  Speaker 1: detectors known as wants could be used on territory streets.
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  Speaker 1: What's the reaction been from police.
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  Speaker 2: Well, look, I think anything that's going to be it's
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  Speaker 2: not just about the tools, but the legislation to support
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  Speaker 2: the tools, because we it depends on if there's reasonable
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  Speaker 2: grands or suspicion, and for police to be actually to
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  Speaker 2: search somebody to see if they're carrying a weapon, we
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  Speaker 2: need to have the correct powers in place to ensure
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  Speaker 2: that we're not doing anything unlawful. So I definitely would
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  Speaker 2: welcome more support and more tools for police to be
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  Speaker 2: able to use, but I think again further work would
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  Speaker 2: need to be done to ensure that's done properly.
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  Speaker 1: He's also flagged some changes to graduate deployments that they're
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  Speaker 1: potentially in the works that would see them stay in
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  Speaker 1: Darwin or in different locations rather than having to undertake
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  Speaker 1: two years in remote areas. What's your take on that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I think this is going to be welcomed
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  Speaker 2: by our members. We know that we have had a
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  Speaker 2: shortage of junior members in Darwin and unfortunately we age
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  Speaker 2: a huge number in both Catherine and Alice Springs that
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  Speaker 2: are junior constables. We have an effective police force, you
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  Speaker 2: need a blend of both senior and junior members because
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  Speaker 2: there's a lot of mentoring that goes on when you're
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  Speaker 2: learning the craft. So we welcome this change. I think
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  Speaker 2: it's going to be actually quite good for Daln based members,
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  Speaker 2: but at the same time we need to ensure that
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  Speaker 2: it's reciprocated properly with senior members being allocated to other
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  Speaker 2: areas too.
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  Speaker 1: Lisa, before I let you go, I'm not sure if
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  Speaker 1: you've had much of an opportunity to talk to the
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  Speaker 1: rank and file since we saw the retirement of Jamie Chalker,
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  Speaker 1: and obviously we have got Michael Murphy acting in the
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  Speaker 1: police commissioner's role. What is the sense amongst the force
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  Speaker 1: at the moment. Are people feeling a little bit more
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  Speaker 1: settled or is that still that feeling of uncertainty given
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  Speaker 1: that they don't know exactly who's going to be the
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  Speaker 1: next commissioner.
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  Speaker 2: Well, like I've said before, at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 2: it really doesn't matter who the commissioner is for us
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  Speaker 2: to do our day to day work. It's when we
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  Speaker 2: long term decisions and implementations of strategies, which is what
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  Speaker 2: obviously previous commissioner had the twenty thirty strategy. We've been
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  Speaker 2: very happy with Acting Commissioner Michael Murphy. I think there's
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  Speaker 2: been some immediate changes within our police force. I've had
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  Speaker 2: members contact us and even some members that have left
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  Speaker 2: the police force are talking about returning. So I think
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  Speaker 2: that's right. It's a real step in the right direction.
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  Speaker 2: There is a change, and long term, I don't know
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  Speaker 2: who the next commission is going to be, but at
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  Speaker 2: this stage we've been very happy with Acting Commissioner Murphy.
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  Speaker 1: So there are some officers who've already been in contact
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  Speaker 1: with you, who have left that are saying, look, they'll
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  Speaker 1: look at retur that's under Michael Murphy.
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  Speaker 2: That's correct.
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  Speaker 1: That's pretty unbelievable for that to happen so quickly. Yes, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: Oh well, Lisa Bayless, it is always great to catch
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  Speaker 1: up with you the Northern Territory Police Association acting president.
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  Speaker 1: When will we know who the next president's going to
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  Speaker 1: be of the association.
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  Speaker 2: Towards the end of the month. It's a postal vote,
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  Speaker 2: so the postal ballots have gone out. Hopefully people have
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  Speaker 2: received theirs. I encourage you to our police members listening
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  Speaker 2: to make sure you fill them in and get them back.
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  Speaker 2: Because it is postal, its snail mail. Takes a little
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  Speaker 2: bit of time, but it will be decided by the
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  Speaker 2: twenty fourth of May.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we will talk to you again soon, no doubt.
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  Speaker 1: Lisa Bayless, thanks so much for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you,