Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Chris Harris from the NT's Public Order Response Unit says they're encountering homemade weapons daily during canine patrols

Transcript

Chris Harris from the NT's Public Order Response Unit says they're encountering homemade weapons daily during canine patrols · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now, as you would have heard here in Darwin, there
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: are now private security patrols which are happening as I
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: understand it, in Karama Malac, Palmerston and also at the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Darwin Airport. They're patrolling is obviously in an effort to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: minimize the impact that we're seeing when it comes to
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: crime and also anti social behavior.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Now joining me in.
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  Speaker 1: The studio to talk more about this is the public
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  Speaker 1: Order Response units. Well, firstly we've got Andy Price, Good
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: morning to you.
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  Speaker 3: Andy, Good morning, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Great to have you in the studio. We've also got
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Chris Harris, Good morning to you, Chris. And we've also
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  Speaker 1: got the executive director of the Property Council here in
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory, Ruth Palmer. Good morning, Ruth, modern Katy.
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  Speaker 1: Now a full line up this morning and plenty to
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: talk about. I want to find out a little bit more. Firstly, Chris,
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  Speaker 1: talk me through the exact locations where you guys are
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  Speaker 1: currently patrolling.
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  Speaker 4: So you hit the nail on the head before. So
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: first and foremost, we found ourselves in Palmerston. Quickly after
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: we rolled that model out, we moved across into the
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  Speaker 4: Krama Malac area and as recently We've just picked up
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: work at the Dawin International Airport, so tell me.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: A little bit more about exactly what you do.
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: So the biggest thing that our team tries to work
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  Speaker 4: towards is that positive community engagement, with the idea that
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  Speaker 4: we can come in and have those discussions with the residents,
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  Speaker 4: the local community members on the ground, try and understand
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  Speaker 4: what their concerns are and how we can fit in
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  Speaker 4: to try and support them to ensure that everyone can
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: live a happy and safe life within that community.
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  Speaker 1: And as I understand it, whether this one's for you,
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  Speaker 1: Chris or you and as I understand it, the canines
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: are utilized as well as part of the patrols.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, the Katika. The canines are simply there for protection
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  Speaker 3: our officers, whether people understand, and unfortunately at night there
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  Speaker 3: is quite a proliferation of weapons out and about and
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  Speaker 3: they're just there to keep our officers safe well, and.
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  Speaker 1: You know, like I always think, if they can be
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  Speaker 1: a bit of a deterrent, but also you know, sometimes
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  Speaker 1: they are a bit of.
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  Speaker 2: A talking point as well for community members.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, they are actually the community love to come up,
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  Speaker 3: they're interested in they'd love to have a chat it's
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: really a nice break between us and people.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Hey, now with your canines, is it similar to
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  Speaker 1: the police canines in the sense that they're pretty well
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  Speaker 1: behaved or you know, like they they're on command basically,
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  Speaker 1: so they're fairly They're able to fairly well interact until
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  Speaker 1: they're instructed to do otherwise.
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  Speaker 5: The dogs will react in very much the way any
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  Speaker 5: human would. It's all behavior.
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  Speaker 4: The environment that they find themselves in will will determine
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  Speaker 4: how they want to react. But between myself and the
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: rest of the team, a lot of us have a
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: very extensive knowledge when it comes to training canines, and we.
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  Speaker 5: Ensure that safety is always the first and foremost.
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  Speaker 1: What kind of behavior do you guys find that you're
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: encountering with those patrols that you're currently doing.
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  Speaker 4: It can be a wide range of concerns, anything from
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  Speaker 4: public urination, toxication, through to assaults, domestic violent issues between families,
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  Speaker 4: and then as Andy mentioned before, the greater concern was
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  Speaker 4: seeing at the moment is the.
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  Speaker 5: Utilization of homemade weak and so, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Right, like, how often would you be seeing that kind
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  Speaker 2: of thing?
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  Speaker 5: Almost daily?
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  Speaker 2: Wow?
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  Speaker 1: And so are we talking like knives or are we
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  Speaker 1: talking what are you talking.
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  Speaker 4: It can be anything from your kitchen knife out of
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  Speaker 4: the drawer at home, through to the destruction of woolies
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  Speaker 4: and coals shopping trolley so that they can use the
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  Speaker 4: handles off those as a swinging tool or item. And
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  Speaker 4: as of most recently, we're seeing things such as machetes
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  Speaker 4: and axes that have been produced.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, it is pretty wild stuff.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it's pretty crazy to think that you've got
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  Speaker 1: people getting around the streets with these homemade weapons. And
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  Speaker 1: it does go to show you why the security patrols
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  Speaker 1: and that what you guys are doing is important. Can
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  Speaker 1: I ask what do you sort of have to do
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  Speaker 1: when someone is doing the wrong thing, because obviously I'm
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  Speaker 1: assuming you don't have the same powers as what the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police do.
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  Speaker 4: No, And as I said before, our greatest weapon is
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  Speaker 4: their ability to communicate with those members on the ground.
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  Speaker 4: We got the idea that we can step into an
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  Speaker 4: environment and have that positive engagement to understand what their
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  Speaker 4: concerns are. Nine times out of ten, the people that
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  Speaker 4: we're dealing with aren't naturally violent. They're not those that
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  Speaker 4: are looking to cause harm. The concern that we see
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  Speaker 4: so that they're either heavily intoxicated, or they're simply bored,
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  Speaker 4: or they just find themselves in a position where they
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  Speaker 4: may be vulnerable and they don't have an understanding on
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  Speaker 4: how they're supposed to react and behave. And that's why
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  Speaker 4: we like the idea that we can have those levels
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  Speaker 4: of discussions where we can then tie in to other
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  Speaker 4: local services here within the territory such as Raki Nation
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  Speaker 4: Northern Territory Family Services to try and bring these folks
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  Speaker 4: on board to understand that this is an individual who
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  Speaker 4: needs help.
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  Speaker 5: And whilst we understand that the police force are heavily
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  Speaker 5: tied up.
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  Speaker 4: In other concerns and other jobs, at this stage, we
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  Speaker 4: want to act as that supplementary force to be able
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  Speaker 4: to come in and provide a level of support to
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  Speaker 4: our communities.
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  Speaker 1: And look, that's one of the big questions I reckon
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  Speaker 1: that some people listening this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Will be asking, is you know why do we.
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  Speaker 1: Need private patrols if we have got the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: Police Force. But I guess this is just about an
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  Speaker 1: extra tier, isn't it.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, very much.
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  Speaker 4: We understand that nine times out of ten there obviously
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  Speaker 4: comes a lot of concern and you're dealing with these
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  Speaker 4: sorts of environments, and that it's not just a simple
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  Speaker 4: matter of having a police force to be able to
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  Speaker 4: turn up, deal with it and leave and move straight
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  Speaker 4: on to the next thing. That obviously there's a lot
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  Speaker 4: of your duty, your cares in your administrative time frames
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  Speaker 4: to get quite up in behind. And when you already
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  Speaker 4: understand that a police force is currently under the pump
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  Speaker 4: with the number of people that they just simply don't have,
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  Speaker 4: we understand that there is a space that we can fill,
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  Speaker 4: and knowing that we're doing a proactive role, we can
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  Speaker 4: turn up there in the first instance and provide the
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  Speaker 4: level of support to the community that allows the police
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  Speaker 4: force to focus on those jobs that require their greater
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  Speaker 4: level of expertise.
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  Speaker 1: I guess one of the other big questions though, from
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  Speaker 1: the public will be how much does it cost? You know,
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  Speaker 1: is it a big impult on the territory taxpayer to
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  Speaker 1: be paying for this extra level of support.
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  Speaker 3: I'll be honest with you, Katie, I guess with us
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  Speaker 3: having current proposals into government costings is something that we
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  Speaker 3: probably wouldn't be limited to say just now.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, right now, Ruth, I'll go to you, because this
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  Speaker 1: is obviously, you know, you and I have spoken on
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  Speaker 1: so many different occasions about antisocial behavior and the crime
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: that we experience on the streets, but particularly that anti
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  Speaker 1: social behavior and the impacts that it has. We also
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  Speaker 1: yesterday caught up with Daniel Rochford, who's the CEO of
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  Speaker 1: Tourism Central Australia, and he'd outlined, you know, just what
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  Speaker 1: kind of impact this is having in the likes of
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  Speaker 1: Alice Springs. You were there not too long ago, the
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  Speaker 1: Property Council was there not too long ago, and had
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  Speaker 1: you know, had really identified to the government that this
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  Speaker 1: is a big concern as well.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, that's right, Katie, And you know, we sort of
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  Speaker 6: looked at all the services that had been put into
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  Speaker 6: Alice Springs, but also the programs that the government had
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  Speaker 6: put in as well, like the helistic plans to curb
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  Speaker 6: this sort of behavior, and that's millions of dollars that
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  Speaker 6: are being spent through those programs and it has appeared
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  Speaker 6: to be ineffective at this stage.
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  Speaker 5: So there are resources.
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  Speaker 2: Being spent on programs that aren't being as effective as
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  Speaker 2: what they could be.
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  Speaker 6: So we would really you know, encourage those resources to
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  Speaker 6: then be put into other areas. Of use that are
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  Speaker 6: actually working, So we know that the issues down in
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  Speaker 6: Alice Springs are worth It is having a really major
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  Speaker 6: impact on population, on the tourism, but also on the
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  Speaker 6: safety of the community. So we know that residents are
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  Speaker 6: at a point now where they are packing up and leaving,
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  Speaker 6: but we also know that retailers in town won't come
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  Speaker 6: to Alice Springs. So you know this is causing major
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  Speaker 6: issues across Alice Springs, but also across Central Australia, which
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  Speaker 6: then has a broader impact of the entire territory.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it has a massive impact. And then when you
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  Speaker 1: talk about tourism and you talk about population growth, etc.
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  Speaker 2: It has a huge impact.
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  Speaker 1: Andy, I mean, are their plans to maybe head down
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  Speaker 1: to Alice Springs, Well.
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  Speaker 3: Do we certainly have a proposal in at the minute.
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  Speaker 3: We're looking to hopefully to do a six month tril
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  Speaker 3: in Alice. Yeah, take four or five of our members
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  Speaker 3: down there, along with three of our canine assets. So
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  Speaker 3: we're very keen to get down there. And I think
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  Speaker 3: our high visibility, our high impact would certainly make a
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  Speaker 3: great presence on the streets of Alice.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. And it sounds like they're crying out for help.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, at this point in time, it sounds like
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  Speaker 1: they're literally crying out for help and they're prepared to
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  Speaker 1: give anything A got.
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  Speaker 3: The minute you hear the community screaming out for the
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  Speaker 3: government to do something, you know, I just want people
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  Speaker 3: to know that the government is doing something. They are
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  Speaker 3: investing in these initiatives and they seem to be working.
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  Speaker 1: Now, what do you think what else could we be doing.
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  Speaker 1: I guess that this is sort of about supporting some
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  Speaker 1: of the mechanisms that are already in place. But what
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  Speaker 1: else do you think could be sort of happening? Or
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  Speaker 1: do you think these services could be expanded more broadly?
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  Speaker 4: It's hard for us to touch and we understand that
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  Speaker 4: from what we've seen within our time on the ground,
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  Speaker 4: is that because we are in location, we can have
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  Speaker 4: that positive interaction from the get go where they're in
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  Speaker 4: amongst the community with local people at that exact moment
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  Speaker 4: in time. We understand from what we see with the
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  Speaker 4: police force, it's very reactionary. They turn up after the fact.
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  Speaker 4: I'd be skeptical to make common in relation to some
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  Speaker 4: of the initiatives that I've seen role out the government
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  Speaker 4: to understand whether they're actually effective.
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  Speaker 5: Or not.
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  Speaker 4: But I'd like to think that we can try and
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  Speaker 4: type ourselves back into understand if we can make changes
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  Speaker 4: at are grassroots level to make community safer for locals
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: to want to be in that space. It's not just
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  Speaker 4: an idea of having someone such as ourselves turn up
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  Speaker 4: and believe that we're going to be some level of
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  Speaker 4: heavy authority to just try and expect that we're going
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  Speaker 4: to drive change from the get go unless we can
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  Speaker 4: educate the people within these spaces and make them understand,
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  Speaker 4: you know, realizing their own time, that we're here to
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: support them and it's going to be a safe environment.
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  Speaker 4: People will want to return, and we're going to have
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  Speaker 4: businesses that want to come back, and you know, locals
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  Speaker 4: that want to move to the territory and continue living
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: a happy life that we have here.
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  Speaker 2: Well, i'll tell you what it's.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it's a good thing to obviously hear about
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: some positive things that are happening around the place. And
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  Speaker 1: I know people have differing opinions obviously, you know, on
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: the way in which we're managing crime and law and order.
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  Speaker 1: But it does sound as though the patrols are a
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: good deterrent.
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  Speaker 6: And I think at this stage, Katie, we really need
• 9:46
  Speaker 6: to look at putting all the effort behind the resources
• 9:49
  Speaker 6: that are available to us. So we do have a
• 9:51
  Speaker 6: company here that is operating. It has proved to be
• 9:54
  Speaker 6: successful in what they've been doing around Malac and Crama
• 9:57
  Speaker 6: and through the airport, So why wouldn't we be looking
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: at so porting that to then head down to Alice
• 10:02
  Speaker 6: Springs where we know there.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Is some major problems.
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  Speaker 6: Like these guys are both going down tomorrow and are
• 10:07
  Speaker 6: going to be talking to a whole range of businesses
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: that I've been working with them in connecting up with,
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: so you know, that's a really good start for them
• 10:13
  Speaker 6: to really get that first hand understanding of what is
• 10:17
  Speaker 6: happening in Alice Springs. And you know, the community down there,
• 10:21
  Speaker 6: we know is crying out for some support and some help.
• 10:24
  Speaker 6: So I believe that we should be all putting, you know,
• 10:27
  Speaker 6: our support behind a company that's actually going to go
• 10:30
  Speaker 6: down there to really want to try and make a
• 10:31
  Speaker 6: difference to the community. It's not for their own benefit,
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: it's to make a difference to the community to make
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: Alice Springs the great place that it should be.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: How do you go in terms of staffing, because I
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: know that there's sort of staff shortages right around the
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: territory at the night, and I would imagine that it
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: takes quite a bit of training to, you know, to
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: sort of get people to the point where they're patrolling
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: but also handling the dogs.
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, a lot of the guys that we have within
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: our team, as any alluded to before, come from a
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: former ADF police corrections background, So we have guys that
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: we you know, a local guys with a high level
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: of skill set and understanding in these sorts of environments.
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: We're very selective about the people that we do bring
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: into that team because we understand that we want to
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: have people that have that skill set to not only
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: protect themselves, but then to protect the guy that's beside them.
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: And then knowing that we can have that appropriate engagement
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: with the people that are presented in from.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: We're also fortunate in a way, Katie, we do operate
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: NATIO as well, so we do offer pathways for people
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: getting out of defense, so that's a big part of
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: our ethos as well.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Perfect, Well, I appreciate your time this morning to
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: each and every one of you, Ruth, obviously, Andy and Chris,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: thanks so much for your time this morning. We appreciate
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: you coming in and having your chat with us.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you.