Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with NT Police Acting Commander Tony Deutrom on the latest crime stats

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Katie Woolf spoke with NT Police Acting Commander Tony Deutrom on the latest crime stats · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf. Join the conversation with Katie Wolf.
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  Speaker 2: You are our eyes and ears in the territory mixed
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  Speaker 2: one oh four point nine.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I tell you what, the phone lines are going
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  Speaker 3: absolutely berserk. We have had a lot of messages coming
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  Speaker 3: through this morning following on from that interview with the
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  Speaker 3: Chief Minister, and I will get to those text messages
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  Speaker 3: throughout the morning. But we know that the latest Northern
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  Speaker 3: Territory crime statistics were released late on Friday, and joining
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  Speaker 3: us in the studio to talk a little bit more
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  Speaker 3: about them, it is Tony Dutram, who's the acting commander
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  Speaker 3: for Darwin.
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  Speaker 4: I believe, good.
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  Speaker 3: Morning to you, Tony. Good morning Katy, thanks so much
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  Speaker 3: for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Net pleasure.
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  Speaker 3: Now, I know that plenty to get through. There always
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  Speaker 3: is when it comes to these crime stats. But as
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  Speaker 3: I understand it, crime against the person around the territory
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  Speaker 3: has gone up, Hasnash?
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  Speaker 1: That's correct, Katie.
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  Speaker 4: How much are we talking here.
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  Speaker 2: So in relation to fences against the person in the territory.
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  Speaker 1: We've seen a fairly consistent scene there in.
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  Speaker 2: Relation today's offenses so across the territory, offenses against the
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  Speaker 2: person who are up twenty two percent. That's replicated in
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  Speaker 2: the area of my command in Darwin by twenty one
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  Speaker 2: percent and Palmstan by twenty four percent as well.
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  Speaker 3: So when you talk about those offenses against the person,
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  Speaker 3: does that sort of refer like what type of offenses
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  Speaker 3: are we talking?
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  Speaker 2: So that includes things such as assaults, aggravated assaults, and
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  Speaker 2: there's also a separate figures we have in relation to
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  Speaker 2: domestic violence assaults within households as well.
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  Speaker 3: Cadie and how are those domestic violence numbers going? I mean,
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  Speaker 3: they're never They always make for pretty grim raating in
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  Speaker 3: the territory, don't they.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, the correlation between those generalized increases against offenses against
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  Speaker 2: the person are pretty well replicated and in some instances
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  Speaker 2: are higher with the domestic violence one. So in the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory as a whole, they're up twenty seven percent.
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  Speaker 2: For the Darwen area which includes dal named Casarina they're
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  Speaker 2: up twenty three percent, and Palmston they're up twenty nine percent.
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  Speaker 2: So unfortunately, there's a fairly a linkage also down alcohol.
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  Speaker 2: They continues to be a consistent measures and theme that
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  Speaker 2: we're seeing across the territory. In the in the latest
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  Speaker 2: stats and just for the public's reference Cadie. So these
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  Speaker 2: are December twenty twenty statistics in the comparisons to December
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  Speaker 2: twenty nineteen.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I guess that's the thing that's always worth
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  Speaker 3: noting is it is a snapshot in time. And I
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  Speaker 3: know that you know that for you guys, no matter what,
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  Speaker 3: you always make sure that you've got resources where people
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  Speaker 3: are sort of you know, getting in contact with you
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  Speaker 3: and saying that they've got concerns.
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  Speaker 4: One of the areas that we hear a lot.
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  Speaker 3: About is, you know, is breaking entries and car thefts.
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  Speaker 3: But interestingly, right now those stats are down.
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  Speaker 1: They are across the territory.
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  Speaker 2: The house breakings are down fourteen percent, commercial breakings are
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  Speaker 2: down by twenty six percent. For the Darwen and Casina
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  Speaker 2: is house breakings are down twenty nine percent, commercial breakings
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  Speaker 2: a down thirty six percent. For the Palm scenario, which
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  Speaker 2: includes the rural area which has been subject to some
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  Speaker 2: recent commentary and discussion, house breakings have increased by two percent.
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  Speaker 2: Commercial breakings are down by nine percent.
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  Speaker 3: Why do you reckon there's sometimes that you know that
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  Speaker 3: sort of I guess difference in the way that people
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  Speaker 3: are feeling. And then the correlation with the stats, Like
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  Speaker 3: you said, I know it's from December last year, but
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  Speaker 3: why do you reckon that?
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  Speaker 2: Is? Sometimes the important thing for me, Katie, is regardless
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  Speaker 2: of what the stats say at any.
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  Speaker 1: Given point in time.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we're quite comforted by the fact that property
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  Speaker 2: offenses are down across the territory and including generally the
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  Speaker 2: greater Dallin area. But if you're a victim of crime,
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  Speaker 2: including properly crime, the stats mean not too much at all.
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  Speaker 2: So what we're clearly focused on at the moment is
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  Speaker 2: looking at trying to do some prevention. Consistent messaging from
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory places that properties remain unlocked, vehicles remain unlocked, and.
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  Speaker 1: It's not about victim blaming.
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  Speaker 2: It's about identifying what we and what members of the
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  Speaker 2: communic community can do to prevent these offenses occurring to them.
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  Speaker 3: And Tony, obviously you're the command of the acting commander
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  Speaker 3: for the Darwin region, but do you have those numbers
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  Speaker 3: on Alice?
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  Speaker 4: How are things going in Alice Springs at the moment?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so in relation to property offenses for that period,
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  Speaker 2: and bearing in mind Alice Springs is not my area.
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  Speaker 2: I can't speak with authority on those figures and it's
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  Speaker 2: probably more appropriate for Commander Craig later the comment, but
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  Speaker 2: breakings have increased in Alice Springs for that period by
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  Speaker 2: twenty four percent in relation to houses, and there has
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  Speaker 2: been a slight decrease of three percent for commercial breaking.
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  Speaker 2: So that's the state of play there. What I can
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  Speaker 2: say is in relation to assistance that we've provided from
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  Speaker 2: a Darleen Rowe Police in Command, we've identified some opportunities
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  Speaker 2: to provide assistance in Tanna Creek and both Alice Springs
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  Speaker 2: in relation to operation up and down there, so we
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  Speaker 2: continue to have operators rotating through there to provide some
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  Speaker 2: assistance to try and get a decrease in some of
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  Speaker 2: those figures and some of the issues that Alice Springs
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  Speaker 2: and Tanner Creek are currently.
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  Speaker 3: For us tiny One of the other things that we
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  Speaker 3: know we spoke quite a bit about last week.
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  Speaker 4: We caught up with Larakie in Nation.
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  Speaker 3: We also spoke to Mission Australia about some of the
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  Speaker 3: concerns we've got at the moment with alcohol and alcohol
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  Speaker 3: related crime, but also that public intoxication from your perspective
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  Speaker 3: and based on the latest crime stats.
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  Speaker 4: How are things going in this space?
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  Speaker 2: Well, those figures probably speak to themselves, Katie reis to
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  Speaker 2: alcohol related crime and offenses against a person. Antisocial behavior
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  Speaker 2: is continuing to be an issue across the territory. Those
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  Speaker 2: increases and numbers speak for themselves. What we're committed to
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  Speaker 2: do is identify some opportunities to try and break those cycles.
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  Speaker 1: It's social amenity is something.
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  Speaker 2: That we're in RN Territory police and the Commissioners clearly
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  Speaker 2: focused on. What we've got to do is identify opportunities
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  Speaker 2: to try and find some decreases in those areas. This Wednesday,
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  Speaker 2: we're kicking off Operation Extra, which is a multi agency
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  Speaker 2: targeted approach to identify patterns with antisocial behavior, educate and engage,
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  Speaker 2: and we.
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  Speaker 1: Also have an enforcement aspect attached to it.
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  Speaker 3: Do you guys find I mean, in terms of that
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  Speaker 3: public intoxication, how big an impact is it on the force,
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  Speaker 3: in terms of you know, having to take people into
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  Speaker 3: the watchhouse and having to sort of, you know, to
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  Speaker 3: try and assist people who are intoxicated in public.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a big issue. And obviously people face an
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  Speaker 2: addiction with alcohol and other substance and the charactory continues
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  Speaker 2: to be an issue. It's difficult for our officers. It's
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  Speaker 2: not ideal to have people in police custom We ideally
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  Speaker 2: don't want to have people that are intoxicated in police custody.
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  Speaker 2: There's opportunity for other agencies. Nations been doing a fantastic job.
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  Speaker 2: Their figures have been publicized. Last week, they're talking about
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  Speaker 2: fifteen people per day that they're taken into the sobering
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  Speaker 2: up shelter. Police numbers continue to trend reasonably the same.
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  Speaker 2: We're talking about two hundred and forty odd people per
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  Speaker 2: week in the Greater Darwin area, not just intoxicated people,
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  Speaker 2: but custody rates around that sort of.
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  Speaker 1: And that's quite consistent.
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  Speaker 2: We also have a large number of people going to
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  Speaker 2: the shelter and or home, which is the preferred option
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  Speaker 2: as opposed to police custody. So clearly people are in
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  Speaker 2: town drinking.
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  Speaker 1: Antisocial behavior is an issue. We've all got a part
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  Speaker 1: to play in it.
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  Speaker 2: What we need people to do is continue to engage
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  Speaker 2: with police, and we're asking people to become involved more wholeheartedly.
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  Speaker 2: It's easy to sit back and run some commentary, I
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  Speaker 2: guess in relation to what government and non government organizations
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  Speaker 2: are doing, but you know, hand on heart, people say
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  Speaker 2: they're actively engaged where they possibly can to try to
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  Speaker 2: minimize these things. On top of that, Katie, we're going
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  Speaker 2: to have to ask ourselves some hard questions. What does
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  Speaker 2: need to be changed the longer term. We're committed to
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  Speaker 2: ten year strategy to go back to basics in the
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  Speaker 2: northern territory, and internally we're having to look at some
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  Speaker 2: opportunities to improve service delivery in the community. So in Dahn,
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  Speaker 2: where you see antisocial behavior, it kind of lead to
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  Speaker 2: offenses against a person and violent assaults. So if you
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  Speaker 2: see something, say something, call Laroche and not patrol on
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  Speaker 2: one eight hundred patrol, call police on one three to one,
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  Speaker 2: triple four for general response and or triple zero of
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  Speaker 2: an emergent emergency incident.
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  Speaker 3: Tony, you said there, we are going to have to
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  Speaker 3: start asking ourselves some of those hard questions.
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  Speaker 4: What type of things do you think we need to
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  Speaker 4: really be looking at.
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  Speaker 2: At the end of the day, Katie, what we've been
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  Speaker 2: doing for a number of years, we do get good results.
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  Speaker 2: The police work hard, other agencies work hard. But if
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  Speaker 2: you don't look at what you're doing and if you're
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  Speaker 2: getting the same outcome. Something's clearly not working, so we're
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  Speaker 2: part of this operation. There will be a debrief to
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  Speaker 2: try and identify what changes we can make with the
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  Speaker 2: administrative changes where there's opportunity to work more closely together
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  Speaker 2: and more around the prevention. Because if we're waiting for
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  Speaker 2: people to get intoxicated and then we're acting, we're failing.
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  Speaker 2: So we need the territory to be a safe, envibrant
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  Speaker 2: place and everybody needs to participate.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I've been here for a long time. You've
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  Speaker 1: been here for a long time.
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  Speaker 2: We've got families here, and it's in all of our
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  Speaker 2: interest to make sure that we can move around safely,
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  Speaker 2: and we need to make some changes, and I think
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  Speaker 2: it's a great opportunity to get together and see what
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  Speaker 2: we can do.
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  Speaker 3: You've hit the nail on the head there now Operation
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  Speaker 3: Extra it's kicking off Thursday.
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  Speaker 4: You said, didn't you Wednesday to Friday? How long is
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  Speaker 4: it going to run for?
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  Speaker 1: For three days, Katie, it's a short, sharp operation, but.
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  Speaker 2: There's a number of agencies involved, government, non government.
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  Speaker 1: And I said earlier there's some multi facet operation.
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  Speaker 2: It's not just about going out and tipping out alcohol
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  Speaker 2: and locking people up. Unfortunately, that will be an aspect
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  Speaker 2: of it in the end, and that's not the preferred outcome.
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  Speaker 2: But we're looking to engage with people and trying to
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  Speaker 2: identify some opportunities to return people back to communities. If
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  Speaker 2: they're in dawn and they've got to stuck here in
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  Speaker 2: a cycle, there's an opportunity for that. But there's also
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  Speaker 2: other things that we have to identify, a lot of
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  Speaker 2: referrals to rehabilitation and to get people out.
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  Speaker 1: Of their CID.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, it's not a good outcome for people that are
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  Speaker 2: living rough and facing the violence that they facing the
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  Speaker 2: streets and down.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I tell you what we did speak last week
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  Speaker 3: about the possibility of I don't know if there's a
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  Speaker 3: better term for it but a wet camp. But look,
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  Speaker 3: I don't expect you to get into a political discussion
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  Speaker 3: with me, so I'm happy for you to to refrain
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  Speaker 3: from commenting on that one if you want to. But
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  Speaker 3: I know that they do have them in some other
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  Speaker 3: locations I mount Ier, and sometimes they do help in
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  Speaker 3: terms of giving people somewhere to stay and to have
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  Speaker 3: a couple of drinks if they come in from another community.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I won't discuss that too broadly, Katie, other
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  Speaker 2: than to say that the Commissioner has touched on it previously.
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  Speaker 2: The fact that those discussions have been had to date,
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  Speaker 2: albeit maybe not in too much depth at this point
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  Speaker 2: in time, it's definitely something that it's popped up in
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  Speaker 2: recent time to consider. As I said, what we've been
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  Speaker 2: doing today, we need to make some adjustments and that
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  Speaker 2: may include a look at those options.
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  Speaker 3: Well, Tony Doutrum, the acting commander for the Darwin Region,
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  Speaker 3: I really appreciate your time this morning. We might try
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  Speaker 3: and catch up with you again if we may next week,
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  Speaker 3: even following on from that operation, to see how things
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  Speaker 3: have gone.
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  Speaker 1: Happy to pop in anytime.
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  Speaker 4: Good on you, Tony, Thank you