1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,840
Speaker 1: Joining me in the studio right now is the acting

2
00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:06,080
Speaker 1: commander for the Darwin Region with the Northern Territory Police,

3
00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:08,200
Speaker 1: James O'Brien. Good morning to you.

4
00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:09,920
Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.

5
00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:12,840
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time this morning. Now, James,

6
00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,720
Speaker 1: the crime stats that were indeed released on Friday, they

7
00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:20,000
Speaker 1: make for some pretty sort of I guess no one's

8
00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,560
Speaker 1: overly surprised, I think with some of those crime statistics,

9
00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:26,640
Speaker 1: particularly those people that do call into the show at

10
00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,600
Speaker 1: different times. But when you look at things like Darwin,

11
00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,520
Speaker 1: we know the commercial break in Drows seventy six point

12
00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:35,320
Speaker 1: four to seven percent. Your motor vehicle theft was up

13
00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:39,159
Speaker 1: thirty seven point five seven percent, house break in Drows

14
00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:42,200
Speaker 1: as well thirty eight point eight two percent. There were

15
00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:45,040
Speaker 1: some areas as well where things have gone down. But

16
00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:48,080
Speaker 1: from your perspective, you know what is what are some

17
00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,919
Speaker 1: of the contributing factors at this point?

18
00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:55,440
Speaker 2: Well, Katie, I think as your listeners would know what.

19
00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:57,800
Speaker 2: I've had a bit of unrest over the past, you know,

20
00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:02,200
Speaker 2: however long some of that has caused a displacement of

21
00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:05,840
Speaker 2: some people up here into Darwin, and that's for an

22
00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,760
Speaker 2: array of reasons. It could be housing, it could just

23
00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,600
Speaker 2: be that they want access to alcohol and those types

24
00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:17,240
Speaker 2: of things. What we have seen though is that and

25
00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:20,119
Speaker 2: as your listeners have heard in the media, is that

26
00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:23,320
Speaker 2: when we do make arrest, we do release that yes

27
00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,240
Speaker 2: they are from what Air. And so what we're doing

28
00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:31,320
Speaker 2: at the moment is we've launched Operation Tan, which is

29
00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:35,600
Speaker 2: going to concentrate on that specific demographic. So what we're

30
00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:38,840
Speaker 2: going to be doing is a whole raft of things

31
00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:42,479
Speaker 2: across Darwin and what Air. For instance, as everybody knows,

32
00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:46,520
Speaker 2: our Trident staff, our property crime staff all over our

33
00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:50,400
Speaker 2: property crime offenders and they do some really fantastic work.

34
00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,040
Speaker 2: I was looking at their figures for the previous week

35
00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:56,360
Speaker 2: and they did some fantastic work. And so what we're

36
00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:58,600
Speaker 2: going to do is send a staff member down there

37
00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:00,760
Speaker 2: to assist what Air with all of the property crime,

38
00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:02,400
Speaker 2: so that we're going to have a bit of a

39
00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,280
Speaker 2: Trident feel down there for the next four odd weeks.

40
00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:09,679
Speaker 1: So what's that operation called Taran Tarn so Operation TAN.

41
00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:11,440
Speaker 1: So it's really going to be looking at some of

42
00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:14,560
Speaker 1: those issues that we've got because James, we've had, like

43
00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:17,280
Speaker 1: we've had quite a few callers ring in at different times.

44
00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:19,800
Speaker 1: And you know, one of them we'd spoken to last

45
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,440
Speaker 1: week who'd had his vehicle stolen here in Darwin then obviously,

46
00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,840
Speaker 1: you know, taken out to what Air allegedly and then

47
00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:31,399
Speaker 1: allegedly stolen from the police compound as well. Is that

48
00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,040
Speaker 1: vehicle theft something that's becoming a little bit more common

49
00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:37,960
Speaker 1: or a greater concern for the Territory Police at the moment,

50
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,119
Speaker 1: particularly in terms of those cars being taken to what Air.

51
00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:44,360
Speaker 2: I think any vehicle theft is obviously of great concern,

52
00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:48,239
Speaker 2: especially when you know we're having commercial premises broken into

53
00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:52,760
Speaker 2: and ram rated with those vehicles. It is obviously a concern,

54
00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:56,120
Speaker 2: and that's that's why we're sending somebody down there from

55
00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:58,359
Speaker 2: Trident obviously to have a look. And like I say,

56
00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:00,160
Speaker 2: there is an array of a whole hip of the

57
00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,880
Speaker 2: things that are happening in the background. Your listeners may

58
00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:08,120
Speaker 2: hear that we have a Darwin, Palmerston Litchfield Intero Agency

59
00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:13,160
Speaker 2: Tasking and Coordination Group. There's also what I work in

60
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,560
Speaker 2: group as well. So we as police work very closely

61
00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,600
Speaker 2: with our partner agencies on a daily basis and at

62
00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,280
Speaker 2: the very operational level, so not just at the executive

63
00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,760
Speaker 2: level where we coordinate and unblocks and roadblocks for people.

64
00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:29,040
Speaker 2: What we do there was every single day. We've got

65
00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,960
Speaker 2: our staff working with people like Larakia. So one of

66
00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:36,640
Speaker 2: the initiatives that we're looking at is engaging what I

67
00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:40,120
Speaker 2: elders with Larakia to try and work with those displaced

68
00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:41,200
Speaker 2: people here in dark Do.

69
00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,480
Speaker 1: We know how many displaced people we do have in

70
00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:45,680
Speaker 1: Darwin at the moment from what those.

71
00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:47,160
Speaker 3: Figures are really difficult, Katie.

72
00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,280
Speaker 2: You know, it's difficult to count the people who are

73
00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:53,800
Speaker 2: out rough sleeping or are out you know, in some

74
00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:57,680
Speaker 2: of the units that are probably over occupied here in

75
00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,120
Speaker 2: Darwen due to that displacement. But we are working with

76
00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,920
Speaker 2: people like Housing at the moment with some units that

77
00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:05,520
Speaker 2: they've got.

78
00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:06,520
Speaker 3: We're working with.

79
00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:11,480
Speaker 2: Transit Safety, publicastic Safety, Larakia. I looked at their figures

80
00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:13,520
Speaker 2: this morning and their return to country to what Air

81
00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,120
Speaker 2: was quite good, and I think that they're progressing really

82
00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:18,960
Speaker 2: well with their patrol statistics as well.

83
00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:20,720
Speaker 1: Do you have any idea on those numbers, like with

84
00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:22,359
Speaker 1: the return to country through Larakia.

85
00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:24,599
Speaker 3: The ones I saw this morning was just for the

86
00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:28,640
Speaker 3: previous week from memory, and please, I.

87
00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:30,479
Speaker 2: Would have to go back to the actual paperwork, it

88
00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,359
Speaker 2: was twelve gone back and so I mean for a

89
00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:35,840
Speaker 2: community of what that's pretty significant for us.

90
00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,279
Speaker 1: Now in terms of those cars being stolen, do you

91
00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:41,120
Speaker 1: have any idea of the number of cars that have

92
00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:43,120
Speaker 1: been stolen from Darwin and taken out.

93
00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:46,760
Speaker 2: Toward air No, Look, I don't have those figures to hand,

94
00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:49,479
Speaker 2: and that's probably something that our tried and staff member

95
00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:53,000
Speaker 2: once they're out there, we could probably look at getting

96
00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:56,080
Speaker 2: some figures around that to really get a bit more

97
00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:58,800
Speaker 2: of that number crunching and intelligence coming in for us

98
00:04:58,800 --> 00:04:59,200
Speaker 2: to work with.

99
00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,839
Speaker 1: Don't just go back to the crime stats. Obviously, the

100
00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:06,679
Speaker 1: situation in Darwin when it comes to commercial breakings also

101
00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,279
Speaker 1: your house break ins, they're pretty concerning what work and

102
00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,640
Speaker 1: also in Palmerston. I know that you're obviously the commander,

103
00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,159
Speaker 1: the acting commander for the Darwin region, so probably can't

104
00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,400
Speaker 1: go in as in depth in terms of Catherine and

105
00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,120
Speaker 1: Alla Springs, but what work is being done in sort

106
00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,400
Speaker 1: of Darwin, Palmerston and the greater Darwin region when it

107
00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:27,400
Speaker 1: comes to some of those commercial break ins and house

108
00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:28,400
Speaker 1: breakings that we're.

109
00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:33,440
Speaker 2: Saying, Well, like a highlighted before Katie with the ITCG,

110
00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:38,080
Speaker 2: we work with our partner agencies, especially with the youth,

111
00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:41,960
Speaker 2: not only Darwin, Palmerston Litchfield based youth, but also those

112
00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:45,520
Speaker 2: displaced youth that come to Darwin. And I can say

113
00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:48,200
Speaker 2: that the Trident youth arrest figures are higher than the

114
00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:52,760
Speaker 2: adult figures, so that in and of itself tends to

115
00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,039
Speaker 2: suggest to us that we need to work with youth

116
00:05:56,080 --> 00:06:00,760
Speaker 2: a lot more closely. Territory families and communities, we.

117
00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:02,240
Speaker 3: Work very closely with them.

118
00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:06,200
Speaker 2: Obviously, we've got our EMD monitoring on board, so there

119
00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:09,640
Speaker 2: is an array of things that we do behind the

120
00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,599
Speaker 2: scenes that probably the public don't see. I suppose one

121
00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:16,440
Speaker 2: thing I can say is that in my time in policing,

122
00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:22,080
Speaker 2: we've had some gos at working collaboratively across agencies, with

123
00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:25,280
Speaker 2: government and non government, and in my twenty eight years,

124
00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:27,440
Speaker 2: this is probably the most I've seen and it's working

125
00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:28,159
Speaker 2: really well.

126
00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:31,360
Speaker 3: Obviously, anything can be improved.

127
00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:33,800
Speaker 2: But I see that all the agencies working together at

128
00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:37,000
Speaker 2: the moment, and I can see that at some point

129
00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:38,320
Speaker 2: we will definitely make some progress.

130
00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:41,040
Speaker 1: Well. That is going to be good for our listeners

131
00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:45,000
Speaker 1: to hear that everybody is working very collaboratively, and you know,

132
00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,960
Speaker 1: hopefully we'll see that progress. But so what you'd said

133
00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:50,560
Speaker 1: there when it comes to those arrests from stripeforce strident,

134
00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:55,000
Speaker 1: they were higher among youth offenders.

135
00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:56,000
Speaker 3: Yes, that is correct.

136
00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:58,279
Speaker 1: Hey, just to ask as well, I know that a

137
00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:00,360
Speaker 1: listener has been in contact with us on the phone line,

138
00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:03,400
Speaker 1: I believe, asking can we clarify that the increase that

139
00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:05,640
Speaker 1: we're talking about obviously with those crime stats that we're

140
00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,800
Speaker 1: talking about the year, it's year on year, isn't it.

141
00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:11,440
Speaker 1: So we're obviously comparing this quarter to last year.

142
00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:12,400
Speaker 3: Yes, that's right.

143
00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:14,640
Speaker 2: So if you look at it, it goes from September

144
00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,440
Speaker 2: to August. So the ones that were just released September

145
00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:20,840
Speaker 2: August in twenty twenty one as compared to September to August,

146
00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,120
Speaker 2: you know that twenty twenty two. And that's the actual

147
00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:26,760
Speaker 2: twelve month period that we're looking at.

148
00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,200
Speaker 3: And I suppose to Katie, we can't deny that.

149
00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,360
Speaker 2: The fact too that if you're looking at offenses against

150
00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:35,160
Speaker 2: the person, the stats there were quite.

151
00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:36,160
Speaker 1: Good, they've gone down a bit.

152
00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:38,680
Speaker 2: That is exactly right, and especially for Palmston, as I

153
00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:42,280
Speaker 2: highlighted last week, the sexual offenses there are down thirty

154
00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:45,200
Speaker 2: three percent, you know, which is some great work not

155
00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,320
Speaker 2: only by our Domestic and Family Violence Unite, you know

156
00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:51,800
Speaker 2: that division in crime, but also our Strikeforce leer staff

157
00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:55,120
Speaker 2: who are working very closely with them and other agencies

158
00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:56,320
Speaker 2: to try and reduce them.

159
00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:59,080
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, I think any of those, any of those

160
00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:01,920
Speaker 1: areas with the crime is going down, is certainly something

161
00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,600
Speaker 1: that the community happy to hear. Hey, I know, over

162
00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:07,160
Speaker 1: the weekend, I'm not sure if you've got any further

163
00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,320
Speaker 1: detail on this, but over the weekend I did see

164
00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,480
Speaker 1: that there were reports that there was an incident at

165
00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:16,239
Speaker 1: a daw And service station where reportedly there was somebody

166
00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:19,680
Speaker 1: threatened with an axe, a knife, and also a baseball

167
00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:22,320
Speaker 1: bat wielded by a group of youths. I understand that

168
00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,960
Speaker 1: the police have actually apprehended those three years that revolved.

169
00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:28,560
Speaker 1: Do you have much further detail on that one or.

170
00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:29,440
Speaker 3: No, I don't.

171
00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:31,640
Speaker 2: I did get a brief on that this morning that

172
00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:36,280
Speaker 2: they had been arrested, and I believe I read somewhere

173
00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:38,720
Speaker 2: that they had been remanded in custody. Now, whether it

174
00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:41,840
Speaker 2: was all three or two of them, please don't quote

175
00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:42,080
Speaker 2: me on that.

176
00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:43,559
Speaker 3: I would have to go back and read the report.

177
00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:45,199
Speaker 1: Now I will go back. We'll see what we can

178
00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:47,760
Speaker 1: find out as well. And it does look as though

179
00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:51,600
Speaker 1: there was another incident a man unfortunately in a situation

180
00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:53,200
Speaker 1: where it ended up in a bit of a scuffle

181
00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:57,560
Speaker 1: while his bike was allegedly trying to be stolen, youths

182
00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:01,160
Speaker 1: threatening him with violence over the weekend retreated. I'm not

183
00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:03,000
Speaker 1: sure if there's much of an update on that one

184
00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:05,480
Speaker 1: or anything else that's gone on from over the weekend.

185
00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:07,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I don't have much of an update on

186
00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:09,720
Speaker 3: that one, Katie. That's probably one that I'll have to

187
00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:10,320
Speaker 3: look into.

188
00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:14,040
Speaker 2: I think the word youth is being bandied around quite

189
00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:16,800
Speaker 2: a bit, and just as you read out in those

190
00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:19,680
Speaker 2: two and that's really something that we need to work

191
00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:23,079
Speaker 2: on collectively and we need to not so much divert

192
00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:25,280
Speaker 2: but we need to find other things for these youth

193
00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:29,000
Speaker 2: to do rather than breaking in cars, breaking in the houses,

194
00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:31,920
Speaker 2: commercial premises, that sort of thing. We need some type

195
00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:34,480
Speaker 2: of activity out there for them and that's something that

196
00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:36,640
Speaker 2: obviously will work with our partner agencies with.

197
00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:39,480
Speaker 1: So it sounds so as though it's quite a focus

198
00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:41,600
Speaker 1: for the Northern Territory Police at the moment. You know,

199
00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,880
Speaker 1: from what you'd said, there has been more arrests from

200
00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:48,960
Speaker 1: trident when it comes to those youth offenders, and like

201
00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:50,920
Speaker 1: you'd touched on, I've said the word youth a lot

202
00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:53,560
Speaker 1: of times throughout this interview. So it is a concern.

203
00:09:53,679 --> 00:09:55,640
Speaker 1: That's something that the police are really trying to work

204
00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:58,880
Speaker 1: with those other groups to try to see a reduction

205
00:09:59,040 --> 00:09:59,959
Speaker 1: in that type of crime.

206
00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,559
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Katie, Absolutely, Well, let's hope.

207
00:10:02,559 --> 00:10:05,079
Speaker 1: So, hey, I know that the police are working really hard.

208
00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:06,640
Speaker 1: I know that we get a lot of support for

209
00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:10,240
Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Police on this show, and yeah, I

210
00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:12,120
Speaker 1: hope that we are able to see a decrease in

211
00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:14,240
Speaker 1: some of the crime that we're experiencing around the place

212
00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:16,440
Speaker 1: because it's having such an impact for so many people.

213
00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:19,960
Speaker 2: Oh, it is, Katie, and really at the forefront of

214
00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:22,720
Speaker 2: our minds as police, as the victims. Obviously they spend

215
00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:26,120
Speaker 2: a lot of cash with their insurance fixing up broken windows,

216
00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:29,400
Speaker 2: you know, the loss of property, and that's just it's

217
00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:32,640
Speaker 2: deplorable behavior, it really is. Yeah, And I can't stress

218
00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:35,400
Speaker 2: that enough. And it's something that I know that our

219
00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:37,839
Speaker 2: police officers every day on the front line are working

220
00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:40,480
Speaker 2: hard to try and stop it or reduce it as

221
00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:41,200
Speaker 2: much as we can.

222
00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:45,360
Speaker 1: Well, Northern Territory Police Acting Commander for the Darwin Region

223
00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:47,520
Speaker 1: James O'Brien, good to catch up with you this morning.

224
00:10:47,559 --> 00:10:48,280
Speaker 1: Thanks for your time

225
00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:49,880
Speaker 3: And you too, Katie, thank you you