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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now to give us

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Speaker 1: a real update from the on the ground perspective from

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Speaker 1: our Northern Territory Police. I've got the Acting Deputy Commissioner,

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Speaker 1: Martin Dole. Good morning to you, Martin.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.

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Speaker 1: Apologies that I'm running late for you this morning, Acting

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Speaker 1: Deputy Commissioner. Can you tell me this morning in Alice

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Speaker 1: Springs how many arrests have been made? Where are things

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Speaker 1: that following on from that woeful behavior yesterday.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's all right, Katie, no worries about running late.

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Speaker 2: We're a little bit busy down here this morning, I bet,

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Speaker 2: just to give you an update. So there's been five

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Speaker 2: arrests made in relation to those melais that are caused

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Speaker 2: at the Todd Tavern and Hidden Valley yesterday afternoon. And

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Speaker 2: those five arrests involve a sixteen and an eighteen year

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Speaker 2: old that were locked up for a violent disorder offenses

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Speaker 2: at the Todd Tavern and a nineteen, a thirty one

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Speaker 2: year old and a fifty year old that were arrested

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Speaker 2: for violent conduct in the disturbance that happened at Hidden

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Speaker 2: We've got a strike force assemble that are onto following

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Speaker 2: this up and investigating this matter today and they'll be

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Speaker 2: further arrest I can guarantee your listeners today that we'll

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Speaker 2: be announcing later on this afternoon. We've identified a lot

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Speaker 2: of the people involved in this and we are coming

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Speaker 2: for them.

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Speaker 1: Martin. The concern this morning is that there is just

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Speaker 1: not enough police to deal with the mobs of people

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Speaker 1: that were on the streets yesterday.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think police numbers are always an issue in

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory, and that's why we've got the independent

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Speaker 2: review Kadie, and there's no going away from the fact

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Speaker 2: that it's been recognized that we do need more numbers.

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Speaker 2: We've currently got extra resources down here for Operation Grimmle,

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Speaker 2: which have been down here and as James Grace Spence

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Speaker 2: said this morning on Brashy, he should have been out

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Speaker 2: here this morning talking about the fantastic proactive work that

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Speaker 2: we've done in Operation Grimmle and all of the positive

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Speaker 2: results that we've had. But instead we're talking about this

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Speaker 2: violent disturbance that happened yesterday afternoon, and that takes away

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Speaker 2: from all of the good work that we've been doing

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Speaker 2: for the last week and a half.

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Speaker 1: In other Springs well, and you know, like I think

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Speaker 1: it's really worth pointing out that the community is absolutely

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Speaker 1: on the side of the Northern Territory Police, but they're

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Speaker 1: thinking to themselves. You know, I'd be horrified. I'd be

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Speaker 1: frightened if I was a police officer yesterday Avo, you know,

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Speaker 1: walking into an angry mob who were armed with weapons.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, and can I just say, Katie, I absolutely agree,

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Speaker 2: and this behavior should not be tolerated. It won't be

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Speaker 2: tolerated by us. Our members responded very swiftly and we

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Speaker 2: made a number of arrests and we're continuing to investigate

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Speaker 2: this matter and we'll make further arrest today. This incident

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Speaker 2: was a targeted incident between two family groups. It never

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Speaker 2: should have made its way into other springs. This violent

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Speaker 2: disorder never should have occurred. And the community that came

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Speaker 2: in and decided to perpetrate this violence after engaging in

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Speaker 2: cultural ceremonies and respectful behaviors, which is how it commenced,

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Speaker 2: to then deteriorate into this type of civil unrest and

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Speaker 2: harm and fear to the community is just not acceptable

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Speaker 2: and it won't be accepted by US.

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Speaker 1: Acting Deputy Commissioner what are leaders of those communities saying today,

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Speaker 1: I mean, have police been out and spoken with them

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Speaker 1: and ask them to really try to get the people

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Speaker 1: of their communities to calm down.

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Speaker 2: Yes, Katie, so that's occurring now as we speak. So

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Speaker 2: we've been doing that work this morning. And what I

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Speaker 2: will do is call out to those communities and say,

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Speaker 2: help us identify the people involved and bring them to

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Speaker 2: us so that they can be dealt with by us,

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Speaker 2: because we won't be accepting this behavior. If you want

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Speaker 2: to be leaders for your community, you want to stand

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Speaker 2: up and speak for your people, then help us identify

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Speaker 2: the people that weren't behaving in that appropriate manner, and

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Speaker 2: we will deal with them swiftly, and we will deal

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Speaker 2: with them with the full force of the law so

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Speaker 2: that they can be supported to come and actually perform

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Speaker 2: their cultural business in town in a respectful way and

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Speaker 2: cut out the people that choose not to behave in

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Speaker 2: that respectful way and have absolutely no respect for authority

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Speaker 2: of the law. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Look, it was shocking, It was absolutely shocking some of

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Speaker 1: that vision yesterday. And Martin, I don't want to get like,

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Speaker 1: I don't want to put you in the middle of

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Speaker 1: a political storm. So Please feel free to bat away

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Speaker 1: this question if if it is something that you're not

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Speaker 1: able to speak on. But you know, we've just spoken

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Speaker 1: to Marian Scrimjaw, the federal member FILINGIARI. She is saying

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Speaker 1: that she's going to be speaking, you know, to the police,

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Speaker 1: to the federal Attorney General, also to the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: government today about bringing in and request or you know,

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Speaker 1: wanting to bring in some additional resources, whether that's the

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Speaker 1: AFP or who exactly that is to try and support

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Speaker 1: you guys. Is that something that the police would welcome.

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Speaker 2: Look, I don't really know if that's the solution, Katie,

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Speaker 2: And that's not being political at all or trying to

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Speaker 2: take sides in this argument. But I think we always

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Speaker 2: focus on the police response and the police resources and

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Speaker 2: the police matter, and it's bigger than that we responded swiftly.

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Speaker 2: We've got people in custody, we'll be taking people into

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Speaker 2: custody today. But how do we prevent these incidents occurring?

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Speaker 2: And how do we prevent other harms that are occurring

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Speaker 2: that aren't specifically police related. So there's a whole range

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Speaker 2: of other services that potentially need to stand up and

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Speaker 2: assist in this. It's not just a police response. It's

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Speaker 2: going to solve this issue, which is an ongoing issue

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Speaker 2: and has been around for a number of years. There's

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Speaker 2: social disadvantage, there's lack of education, engagement, There's a whole

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Speaker 2: range of other factors that need to be looked at

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Speaker 2: instead of just pouring extra cops into this town.

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Speaker 1: Well, look, there's no doubt we'll have further discussions about

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Speaker 1: that this morning, and we are expecting Marion Scrimgeorge to

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Speaker 1: give us a bit of an update at some point today.

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Speaker 1: I do want to ask him how many weapons ended

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Speaker 1: up having to be seized yesterday.

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Speaker 2: Look, I don't have a specific number, Katie, but I

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Speaker 2: do know there were upwards of fifty weapons that were

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Speaker 2: taken from the violent disorder that occurred at Hidden Valley Camp.

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Speaker 2: There was no weapons involved in the disturbances that I'm

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Speaker 2: aware of or have been briefed of. At the Todd Tavern.

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Speaker 2: There was rocks, bricks and things like that used to

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Speaker 2: attack the building to try and get inside for the

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Speaker 2: people that were sheltering inside that building. But the weapons

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Speaker 2: that were seized from Hidden Valley Camp range from sticks,

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Speaker 2: edge weapons, axes, and various other implements that we seized

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Speaker 2: off people that were involved in that disturbance there. Wow.

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Speaker 1: We spoke to the school principle from Yipperina a little

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Speaker 1: bit earlier this morning, Gavin Morris. He said that you know,

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Speaker 1: their students, some of the staff are incredibly frightened. You

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Speaker 1: know that they're worried that they are going to be

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Speaker 1: targeted in some way through payback. I mean, what assurances

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Speaker 1: can the police give members of the community at this

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Speaker 1: point in time, if any.

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Speaker 2: Well, what we can do is we can tell the

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Speaker 2: public that we will respond swiftly to these incidents and

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Speaker 2: they won't be tolerated. Katie. But this is not wanton lawlessness.

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Speaker 2: This is specific targeting of family groups and the family

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Speaker 2: groups that were involved. So it stems from an incident

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Speaker 2: that occurred over a week ago where an eighteen year

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Speaker 2: old man was tragically killed in a motor vehicle crashing town.

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Speaker 2: Now that was a stolen motor vehicle. There were several

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Speaker 2: youths in that motor vehicle with the eighteen year old

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Speaker 2: and investigations have been ongoing in relation to that incident.

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Speaker 2: The driver and one of the passengers have been arrested

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Speaker 2: and dealt with and there's some other outstanding family members

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Speaker 2: that are still yet to be dealt with by the

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Speaker 2: police and arrested for that incident. And my understanding is

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Speaker 2: that there's some discent between the various family groups, the

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Speaker 2: victim of the eighteen year old that was killed and

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Speaker 2: the other family members that were involved in that solemn motivehicle.

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Speaker 2: So this has targeted conflict between various family groups here

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Speaker 2: in Ala Springs. It's not wanton violence just being taken

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Speaker 2: out on random members of the community. This is actually

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Speaker 2: an issue between two family groups that's spilling out onto

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Speaker 2: the streets of our springs and it won't be tolerated

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Speaker 2: by us.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the people though listening this morning who've watched

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Speaker 1: that vision from the Todd tavern will be thinking those

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Speaker 1: poor buggers that were locked inside are not part of

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Speaker 1: any kind of payback or dispute. And you know they've

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Speaker 1: got rocks and bricks being thrown at the windows.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely right, Katie. It's disgusting behavior, it's a

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Speaker 2: borran behavior, and it won't be tolerated by us. And

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Speaker 2: we responded extremely quickly to the calls for assistance there

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Speaker 2: and we were able to call that disturbance and the

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Speaker 2: same at Hidden Valley. We responded and we were able

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Speaker 2: to intervene in that violence. Now, it's important to note

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Speaker 2: that nobody was injured as a result of any of

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Speaker 2: those disturbances yesterday, which is a miracle, because as you

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Speaker 2: could see from the various footage getting around, it was

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Speaker 2: completely out of control. And we won't tolerate that, and

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Speaker 2: we'll be identifying all of those people involved and we'll

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Speaker 2: be dealing with them to the full extent of the law.

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Speaker 1: Martin Dole, we are going to have to wrap up,

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Speaker 1: But I do just want to ask very quickly. I

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Speaker 1: would imagine that there is quite a significant amount of

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Speaker 1: preparatory work really happening today, or quite a bit happening today,

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Speaker 1: to ensure that you know that safety is maintained on

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Speaker 1: the streets of Ellae Springs.

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Speaker 2: That's correct, Katie. We've still continued to have members from

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Speaker 2: Operation grim Or here. We'll be looking at what other

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Speaker 2: resources we can bring in relation to that. But just

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Speaker 2: let me assure the public we know who the people

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Speaker 2: that perpetrated this violence is yesterday, and we're out there

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Speaker 2: actively seeking to put them into custody today. So can

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Speaker 2: I ensure the public we do have police resources out here.

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Speaker 2: You will see a florry of activity today and you

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Speaker 2: will see our police out and about all over the

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Speaker 2: East long weekend in our springs, keeping people safe well.

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Speaker 1: Acting Deputy Commissioner Martin Dole, I always appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for speaking with us this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thank you Katie, thank you