Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Police Association President Paul McCue says officers in Alice Springs are under attack and the normally ‘busy period’ for police hasn’t even began

Transcript

NT Police Association President Paul McCue says officers in Alice Springs are under attack and the normally ‘busy period’ for police hasn’t even began · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: As we've been speaking about this morning, and we certainly
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: spoke about it yesterday. We heard about the absolute havoc
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  Speaker 1: on the streets of Alice Springs, multiple cars stolen and
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  Speaker 1: driven dangerously through the CBD, riding in the back of utes,
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  Speaker 1: pushing police to urge locals and tourists to avoid the
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  Speaker 1: area in Alice Springs. Now, the Northern Territory Police Association
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  Speaker 1: says that crime has exceeded crisis point, with officers deliberately
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  Speaker 1: being targeted by offenders who were allegedly driving at those
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  Speaker 1: marked police cars, putting lives at risk. President of the
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  Speaker 1: Police Association, Paul McHugh joins me on the line. Good morning, Paul,
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  Speaker 1: Morning Katie Paul. What is the association's response to the
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  Speaker 1: incidents in Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look, it's a borient behavior. I mean, you know,
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  Speaker 2: you've seen the vision. Most people have seen the vision
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  Speaker 2: now and you know, sadly, this doesn't come as a
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  Speaker 2: surprise to us. And this is a blatant, violen attack
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  Speaker 2: on our members and of course the community itself, and
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  Speaker 2: we condemn that type of behavior in the strongest terms.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, the last thing we need to see are
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  Speaker 2: our police targeted who are out there. You know, Heaven forbid,
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  Speaker 2: they're the ones out there keeping us safe. And now
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  Speaker 2: they're under attack themselves from young people, regardless of age,
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  Speaker 2: who are using a deadly weapon to attack our police.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, people think, well, the last thing we
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  Speaker 2: want to see someone lose their life. We've already seen that.
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  Speaker 2: We've already seen that. In the last year or two,
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  Speaker 2: a man lost his life down there in Alice Springs
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  Speaker 2: at an intersection. It was horrific. And you know, here
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  Speaker 2: we've got behavior from young individuals that they need to
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  Speaker 2: be held to account. I don't care about their age.
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  Speaker 2: This is a current behavior and our members are under
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  Speaker 2: attack and something needs to happen.
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  Speaker 1: Paul, how are police officers in Alice Springs feeling right
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  Speaker 1: now after what has unfolded?
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  Speaker 2: Look, it's terrible. I mean, this is sadly nothing new.
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  Speaker 2: As I've said, our members have been taunted by young
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  Speaker 2: offenders in our springs and across the territory for a
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  Speaker 2: long time now. And you know that, you know, we're
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  Speaker 2: talking about ten eleven year old children and they've had
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  Speaker 2: some horrific upbringings and they've had, you know, a really
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  Speaker 2: not an opportunity to have a start in life, really,
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  Speaker 2: yet they do know what they're doing is right or wrong.
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  Speaker 2: When you're driving around in a vehicle like has been happening,
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  Speaker 2: you know, blatantly flaunting the laws and the safety of
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  Speaker 2: the community. Something stronger than a lift in the back
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  Speaker 2: of a car to somewhere to have a chat needs
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  Speaker 2: to be done.
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  Speaker 1: Paul, what are police officers saying to you in Alice
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  Speaker 1: Springs right now? And like, have you spoken to any
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  Speaker 1: of those officers after Tuesday night? I certainly don't want
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  Speaker 1: to identify any of them or anything like that, but
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  Speaker 1: what are they saying to you?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you look at representatives down there in Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 2: Of course have been in touch with some of the officers,
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  Speaker 2: and it's righting. I mean, obviously the last thing police remember,
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  Speaker 2: their families see them go off to work each day,
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  Speaker 2: and they're seeing this unfold of course on social media
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  Speaker 2: and knowing their families at work wondering if they're okay.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, the last thing we want to see is
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  Speaker 2: them in fear of their own lives while they're out
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  Speaker 2: there keeping us safe. But what really is of concern
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  Speaker 2: is we really haven't even hit the busy summer period Katie.
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  Speaker 2: So that is traditionally the busiest time down there in
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  Speaker 2: Alice Springs, and we're already seeing these types of this
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  Speaker 2: types of behavior and that's probably the biggest concern. Given
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  Speaker 2: the police numbers down there.
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  Speaker 1: What is going to happen as well when this age
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  Speaker 1: of criminal responsibility changes.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, obviously government of and now they've been doing
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  Speaker 2: some work you know, in the lead up to this
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  Speaker 2: legislation on what they perceive is going to be you know,
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  Speaker 2: I guess keeping the kids off the street in one
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  Speaker 2: form or another. But you know what is of concern,
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  Speaker 2: of course, is the age of criminal responsibility doesn't change crime,
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't reduce crime. Crime will still occur, police will
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  Speaker 2: still need to attend and now quite possibly we're going
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  Speaker 2: to be used as a I guess a taxi service
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  Speaker 2: to run kids around at the same time, and I
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  Speaker 2: really question where the police numbers are coming from. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: the last thing the Commissioner needs and his senior executive
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  Speaker 2: down their analysis police tied up running children around when
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  Speaker 2: there's many other aspects to policing than that. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's not to say they're not going to do that bit,
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  Speaker 2: but you can't expect the police to do it all.
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  Speaker 1: Paul, what do you make of the announcement that was made, Well,
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  Speaker 1: the government's been flagging this for a couple of weeks,
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  Speaker 1: but they fleshed out some of that detail yesterday. Under
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  Speaker 1: this plan, where young people will be picked up by police,
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  Speaker 1: they could then be taken to a safe place for
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  Speaker 1: a child protection assessment instead of being returned home. So
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  Speaker 1: the minister has said that the measure was a clear
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  Speaker 1: message to parents and caregivers and what we need is
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  Speaker 1: to make sure that those parents in Alice Springs understand
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  Speaker 1: fully that if they're young people are out night and
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  Speaker 1: if they're returned to them the next time, that may
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  Speaker 1: not happen, so they may be taken into care and protection.
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  Speaker 1: What do you make of that announcement.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, obviously you know we support measures that you know,
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  Speaker 2: I mean the government are looking at trying to implement
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  Speaker 2: a program that removes the children off the street and
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  Speaker 2: I guess intervenes in ongoing criminal behavior or behavior that
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  Speaker 2: you know, the community do not find acceptable any life
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  Speaker 2: threatening and danger. So when we support that, but the
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  Speaker 2: devil's in the detail, and you know what power is
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  Speaker 2: the police going to have to arrest or detain or
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  Speaker 2: transport the children. What powers are they going to be
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  Speaker 2: to for police when in the three o'clock in the
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  Speaker 2: morning they can't find another agency or you know, we
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  Speaker 2: just don't know some of those details yet, and we're
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  Speaker 2: looking forward to having those discussions with government to see
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  Speaker 2: what it means for our members because ultimately, changes like
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  Speaker 2: this always policing, there's no question about that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a really good point to make that,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the devil is going to be in the
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  Speaker 1: detail where exactly if there isn't a service available for
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  Speaker 1: them to be taken to, what exactly is going to
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  Speaker 1: be the procedures and protocols. Paul, What do you think
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  Speaker 1: could be happening in Central Australia right now from a
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  Speaker 1: policing perspective to try to really minimize what's going on.
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  Speaker 2: Well, obviously with the community, you want to make sure
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  Speaker 2: our police are safe. They want to make sure there's
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  Speaker 2: enough police out there. The behaviors we're seeing are antisocial
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  Speaker 2: behavior as well as at times very serious criminal behavior,
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  Speaker 2: and of course we can't deal with that without enough police.
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  Speaker 2: And we've said previously we need to get our police
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  Speaker 2: auxiliaries off of those bottle shops. We need to transition
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  Speaker 2: those positions to constable positions. Quite clearly, there's going to
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  Speaker 2: be a need for more police with some of the
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  Speaker 2: changes in legislation and the interventions looking at being implemented
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  Speaker 2: down there and at times across the territory, and of
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  Speaker 2: course we can't do that without additional numbers. It's as
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  Speaker 2: simple as that.
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  Speaker 1: And so you reckon they need to be transitioned off
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  Speaker 1: those bottle shops. That's something that you and I have
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  Speaker 1: spoken about before. And so the liquor inspectors transitioned out
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  Speaker 1: of those roles and into constable positions. How exactly would
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  Speaker 1: that work in terms of, you know, would they require
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  Speaker 1: additional training and that kind of thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I mean, obviously those individuals have been trained
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  Speaker 2: to be a police auxiliary liquor inspector. It's a far
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  Speaker 2: different role of being a constable. So those individuals themselves
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  Speaker 2: would need to meet the requirements of a constable and
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  Speaker 2: do additional training. But of course what we're talking about
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  Speaker 2: is the positions, not necessarily the individuals, and we want
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  Speaker 2: those positions to become constable positions. They can then be deployed.
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  Speaker 2: The Commission will have additional resources to deploy around Alison,
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  Speaker 2: around remote areas. That can only be a positive. And
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  Speaker 2: let's get our police off doing that role. Let's get
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  Speaker 2: locky licensing inspectors or another format to take over the
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  Speaker 2: bottle shops.
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  Speaker 1: And you are also calling for an urgent meeting of
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  Speaker 1: the working group that was established by the former Police
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  Speaker 1: Minister Nicole Madison. What is that one all about?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there was, I guess I'm looking at sentencing options
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  Speaker 2: for offenders who assault frontline workers and we haven't seen
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  Speaker 2: really any movement in that for over a year. There
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  Speaker 2: was a commitment from then then Minister for Police Madison
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  Speaker 2: around looking at assaults on frontline workers. And I think
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  Speaker 2: what we've seen lately, of course in the footage and
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  Speaker 2: what we know is taking place now, this is more
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  Speaker 2: important than ever when we're looking at protecting those frontline
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  Speaker 2: workers and our police cannot afford to be under a
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  Speaker 2: tack lock they are at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Honestly, what we'd seen earlier in the week. If
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  Speaker 1: it's not the point that something needs to one hundred
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  Speaker 1: percent change, then I don't know what can be. And
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  Speaker 1: I know that I've said that on this show on
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  Speaker 1: so many occasions, there's been so many different in it
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  Speaker 1: instead of happened that I've thought this has got to
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  Speaker 1: be there's got to be some change. But from what
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  Speaker 1: we saw on Tuesday, it was dangerous to absolutely everybody.
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  Speaker 2: Everyone, every member of the community's at risk when you
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  Speaker 2: see that form of behavior. And you know, we've got
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  Speaker 2: some incredibly terrific committed police down there in Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 2: The assistant commissioner there has lived there previously. He knows
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  Speaker 2: that part of the world very well, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: we just want to make sure that community is safe.
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  Speaker 2: It's a great town, but we can't have this sort
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  Speaker 2: of behavior, and of course police need support and protection
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  Speaker 2: if they're going to keep that community safe well.
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  Speaker 1: Police Association President Paul mchwe we always appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks very much for speaking with me this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Good on you. Thanks Katie, Thank you