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Speaker 1: From all accounts, a pretty dangerous situation in the CBD

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Speaker 1: of Alice Springs overnight.

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Speaker 2: Joining us on the line to.

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Speaker 1: Tell us more about exactly what went on, it is

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Speaker 1: Martin Dole, the Assistant Commissioner of Regional and Remote Policing.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Martin.

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Speaker 3: Good morning, Katie. How are you this morning?

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Speaker 2: Not too bad?

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Speaker 1: Tell me what exactly happened last night from a police perspective.

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Speaker 3: Well, last night, Katie, we had another spate of horrific

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Speaker 3: behavior by youth in Alice Springs. It flows from a

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Speaker 3: really bad week last week and over the weekend, we've

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Speaker 3: had a number of stolen motor vehicles, and we've had

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Speaker 3: a number of youth driving these stolen motor vehicles in

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Speaker 3: an absolutely dangerous manner in the CBD, putting everyone's lives

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Speaker 3: at risk, putting the risks of the public, lives of

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Speaker 3: the public at risk, the lives of the police at risk,

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Speaker 3: and the lives of themselves at risk. Fortunately, those vehicles

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Speaker 3: were all apprehended overnight, and we were able to arrest

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Speaker 3: five youth from one of those vehicles, and all of

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Speaker 3: those vehicles were recovered far out.

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Speaker 2: So how many cars are we talking about here?

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Speaker 3: So we had three stylin last night and all three

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Speaker 3: of those vehicles were driving in a totally, totally dangerous

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Speaker 3: manner in the CBD in the early hours of this morning,

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Speaker 3: which prompted police to put out a Facebook post warning

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Speaker 3: the public about being in the CBD and the risk

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Speaker 3: to them from these vehicles.

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Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner, have you ever issued a statement like that

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Speaker 1: online before warning people to not go into the city

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Speaker 1: or into the CBD in Central Australia.

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Speaker 3: We haven't for a while. I'd look, it is uncommon.

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Speaker 3: I believe we have done it previously, but not in

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Speaker 3: my time being here since January this year. But it

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Speaker 3: was just such a risk to the public. This behavior

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Speaker 3: was totally unacceptable and we had real fears for community

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Speaker 3: safety with the driving behaviors of these youths in this

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Speaker 3: in these stylo motor vehicles.

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Speaker 1: It's bloody frightening. Look, I said this earlier this morning.

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Speaker 1: It's not only frightening that those youths are putting themselves

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Speaker 1: at risk, but they're then putting the public at risk.

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Speaker 1: But then it's my understanding, and please correct me if

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Speaker 1: I'm wrong, that they were then trying to ram the

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Speaker 1: marked police vehicle.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's correct, Katie, You're not wrong. They were targeting

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Speaker 3: police vehicles, they were targeting unmarked police vehicles, they were

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Speaker 3: baiting police into chasing them. They were putting everybody at risk.

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Speaker 3: And we've seen, you know, we've seen the tragedy that

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Speaker 3: can result from this type of behavior several years ago

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Speaker 3: in Alice Springs with unfortunately a fatal accident resulting from

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Speaker 3: similar behavior to this, and it's just totally unacceptable, totally

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Speaker 3: disregard for the public safety, in their own safety, and

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Speaker 3: it's just got to stop.

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Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner, are you worried that somebody is going to

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Speaker 1: be heart or worse still lose their life if something

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Speaker 1: like this continues to happen.

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Speaker 3: Of course, I'm worried, Katie. It's like I said, you

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Speaker 3: can't get anything more dangerous than a weapon like a

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Speaker 3: vehicle being used to target people, drive deliberately at them

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Speaker 3: in the hope of causing accidents, or in the hope

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Speaker 3: of baiting police into chasing them and chasing them with

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Speaker 3: lights and sirens. Public safety is our number one priority,

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Speaker 3: and our aim is to try and apprehend these vehicles,

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Speaker 3: catch these criminals, which is what they are. When they're

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Speaker 3: behaving like this and keep the public safe.

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Speaker 2: So what ended up happening last night?

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Speaker 1: Did the police have to be pulled from the CBD

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Speaker 1: or did they continue to pursue these youths who had

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Speaker 1: stolen that vehicle despite the fact that it was incredibly

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Speaker 1: dangerous for them.

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Speaker 3: No, we had to come up with resolution strategies, Katie.

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Speaker 3: So despite what people think, we can't ram these vehicles

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Speaker 3: and send them off the road. We have to come

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Speaker 3: up with strategies of tire spiking and where it's safe

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Speaker 3: to actually put tire spikes to apprehend these vehicles so

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Speaker 3: that we create as little community risk as possible. So

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Speaker 3: we came up with a resolution strategy. The main offending

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Speaker 3: vehicle was tire spiked and later abandoned the Todd River,

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Speaker 3: and we apprehended five youths fleeing from that vehicle. The

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Speaker 3: other two vehicles were abandoned in the CBD and shortly

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Speaker 3: recovered a short time later.

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Speaker 1: What's happened with those five years now? Are they still

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Speaker 1: in custody?

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Speaker 3: So I'm led to believe, Katie, that we've still got

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Speaker 3: two in custody. Three of those are being considered for

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Speaker 3: a diversion under the Youth Justices Act, and there's two

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Speaker 3: being considered for charges in relation to those offenses.

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Speaker 2: How does that make you guys feel.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I know that this is all part of it,

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Speaker 1: the Youth Diversion Act, and how they need to be

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Speaker 1: considered for that, but I'm assuming that your officers are

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Speaker 1: feeling like they're in a pretty bloody dangerous situation last

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Speaker 1: night and then to think that those kids could be

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Speaker 1: back out on the streets tonight.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, I think everyone's exasperated, Katie, the public exasperated,

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Speaker 3: the police are exasperated. But just a bit clear that

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Speaker 3: diversions not no consequences. I mean these we can't keep

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Speaker 3: these children in police custody indefinitely, regardless of the fact

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Speaker 3: whether they're going to be charged or subject to youth diversion.

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Speaker 3: They're going to be released from police custody at some

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Speaker 3: stage and subject to either attending court and going through

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Speaker 3: the judicial system or undertaking diversion. And if that's not successful,

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Speaker 3: then after diversion, they'll be diverted to the court and

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Speaker 3: go through the judicial system.

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Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner, can I ask how many vehicles have been

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Speaker 1: stolen over the last week or so in Central Australia

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Speaker 1: because some of that vision I said it earlier, looks

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Speaker 1: like scenes out of Grand theft.

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Speaker 2: Also it does.

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Speaker 3: It's completely unacceptable and unsafe behavior that Katie. I don't

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Speaker 3: have an accurate number that I can give you exactly.

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Speaker 3: I know that we had over the weekend, we had

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Speaker 3: ten motor vehicles stolen. All of those have been recovered,

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Speaker 3: and there was another three last night. But I would

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Speaker 3: say I'm probably underestimating the number because I don't have

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Speaker 3: that exact figure for you. But it's just totally unacceptable

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Speaker 3: and it needs to stop.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you sound like you're exasperated by as you've said.

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Speaker 1: Can I ask, so, what's going to happen tonight? Is

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Speaker 1: there going to be an additional surge with the police force.

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Speaker 1: Are you going to need to call in the TRG

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Speaker 1: or additional police officers from other parts of the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: No, Katie, We've got lots of police here and we

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Speaker 3: are on the street and we did apprehend these vehicles

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Speaker 3: last night. What we're hoping is a circuit breaker in

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Speaker 3: some of these ring leaders that are leading these groups

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Speaker 3: of children that believe that this type of behavior is

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Speaker 3: either fun or entertaining because it's absolutely not. It's criminal

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Speaker 3: behavior and it's putting the public at risk. So we're

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Speaker 3: hoping that identifying some of these ring leaders and dealing

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Speaker 3: with them is going to put a bit of a

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Speaker 3: circuit breaker into this.

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Speaker 1: And is some work happening today to try and identify

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Speaker 1: those people.

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Speaker 3: Well, like I said, we've got five in custody and

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Speaker 3: we've got a number of other identified people that we're

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Speaker 3: following up. That's absolutely right.

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Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner, what is your message for the people of

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Speaker 1: Valas Springs today, because I know that there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of them contacting me this morning. A lot of them

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Speaker 1: are listening. They you've already said it. I mean, they're exasperated.

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Speaker 1: People are at their wits end.

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Speaker 3: I understand that, Katie. I'm not trying to sugarcoat it

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Speaker 3: at all, but I do want to inform the public

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Speaker 3: that the police are out there trying to keep people safe.

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Speaker 3: We're working incredibly hard to identify these offenders and stop

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Speaker 3: this type of behavior, and please have some faith in

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Speaker 3: your police force and the other agencies that are working

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Speaker 3: to stop these behaviors. So there's a lot of work

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Speaker 3: going on with these youth and This is not an anomaly.

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Speaker 3: This has been going on for a long time and

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Speaker 3: we've had really unreasonable rates and it appears to be continuing,

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Speaker 3: but we're working really hard to try and put a

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Speaker 3: stop to that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, do you think that at the moment the

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Speaker 1: situation is worse than what it's been though, it's.

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Speaker 3: As worse as I've ever seen, Katie. It's at very

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Speaker 3: high levels, and it's been at continuing high levels for

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Speaker 3: a long time now.

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Speaker 1: Well, Assistant Commision to Martin Dole, I always appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for having a chat to us this morning.

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Speaker 1: All the best to all of our police officers, and look,

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Speaker 1: I'm glad that none of them were injured last night

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Speaker 1: because it does look as though it was such a

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Speaker 1: dangerous situation for everyone.

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Speaker 3: So I'm Okatian. Thanks for your tom. Yeah, guys did

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Speaker 3: a great job and I'm really glad no one got

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Speaker 3: injured as well, particularly our police or any of the

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Speaker 3: members of the public.

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Speaker 2: So thank you to thank you