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Speaker 1: Few clangers dropped by the Police Minister earlier this morning

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Speaker 1: or just before. They are doing a review into the

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Speaker 1: financial structure of the police force. There is a full

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Speaker 1: review into how the police force is set up. They

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Speaker 1: are obviously looking at the disciplinary process and where the

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Speaker 1: legislation needs to be changed when it comes to that

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Speaker 1: disciplinary process.

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Speaker 2: They are also I believe, well I.

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Speaker 1: Don't know if that review has been conducted yet, but

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Speaker 1: into the well being of our police force, the Minister

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Speaker 1: confirming that it certainly does need attention and that they're

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Speaker 1: looking at targeted solutions into antisocial behavior. Now, I've got

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Speaker 1: to tell you I had absolutely no idea that a

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Speaker 1: restructure was even on the table before that interview with

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Speaker 1: the Chief or with the Police Minister this morning. Now

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line right now is the Police

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Speaker 1: Association President Paul Mcheu. Good morning to you, Paul, morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: How are you not too bad now? Paul, I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure if you got to hear much of that interview

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Speaker 1: with the Police Minister, but apparently a full review you

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Speaker 1: into the financial structure of the police force underway as

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Speaker 1: well as a review into the setup. So absolutely, the

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Speaker 1: Minister said a restructure of the police force is on

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Speaker 1: the table.

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Speaker 2: Paul, were you aware that this works underway?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, I guess we had an indication certainly that

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Speaker 3: the Minister wanted to, I guess, look into the books,

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Speaker 3: look into how polices are operating, how the structure is

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Speaker 3: set up. But ultimately this really had to come, didn't it.

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Speaker 3: When you look at the results of our survey, ninety

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Speaker 3: three percent of those thousand people that responded it said

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Speaker 3: we just don't have enough. Yet we've got government saying

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Speaker 3: we've got record numbers, record budget, so something just simply

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Speaker 3: wasn't adding up when you've got conflicting views. When you

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Speaker 3: look at the rank and file, they've made it quite

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Speaker 3: clear despite these record numbers, you know, where is everyone?

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Speaker 3: Essentially the question, and I guess the Minister's committed now

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Speaker 3: to making sure we have a look at where you

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Speaker 3: know what that answer might be, which is positive news

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Speaker 3: from our perspective.

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Speaker 1: Well, and Paul, obviously she said, you know, the review

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Speaker 1: into the financial structure of the police force, a review

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Speaker 1: into how it's set up, and that that restructure a

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Speaker 1: restructure of the police force is on the table. Also

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Speaker 1: looking into those disciplinary processes and whether legislation needs to change.

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Speaker 1: She reckons well being into the police force needs needs attention,

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Speaker 1: and that they're going to look at targeted solutions into

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Speaker 1: anti social behavior. Paul, from your perspective, will this go

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Speaker 1: far enough?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, obviously the wellbeing reviews, you know that certainly

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Speaker 3: was undertaken late last year and early this year. But

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Speaker 3: of course that still requires significant investment for that to

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Speaker 3: have an impact on people in the job and how

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Speaker 3: people are feeling. But certainly the reviewer or the work

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Speaker 3: being undertaken around other organizations, whether it be government or

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Speaker 3: non government, picking up their piece of a puzzle. I

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Speaker 3: guess if you like to really take some of that

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Speaker 3: workload off police, because ultimately, you know, as you know,

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Speaker 3: and we've spoken about this a lot, that police are

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Speaker 3: always ten tend to be there. They're the ones being

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Speaker 3: asked to pick up the slack where no one else

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Speaker 3: is there, and you know, we simply can't continue to

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Speaker 3: do that.

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Speaker 1: Another thing that I heard very loudly and clearly from

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Speaker 1: what she was saying throughout that interview this morning, is

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Speaker 1: that she wants more police on the ground, She wants

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Speaker 1: more police community engagement. Do you think that that's possible

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Speaker 1: based on the number of cops that we've got right now.

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Speaker 3: Well, the short answer is no. I mean, based on

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Speaker 3: the feedback from our members, they simply don't have enough

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Speaker 3: even to get a van on the road at times

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Speaker 3: yet alone have a lot of proactive work done in

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Speaker 3: the community. And you know, probably what we're talking about

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Speaker 3: there is foot patrols through the CBD, you know, both

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Speaker 3: both here in Darwin as well as perhaps down in

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Speaker 3: our springs. But certainly the feedback from our membership is

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Speaker 3: we don't have enough just to do the front line

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Speaker 3: work or response work and responding to people calls for assistance,

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Speaker 3: shedalone that really important proactive work in the community that

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Speaker 3: needs to be done.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, we.

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Speaker 1: Keep hearing from the government that there's a larger investment

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Speaker 1: than ever before and there's more police in the force

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Speaker 1: than ever before.

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Speaker 2: If that's the case, where are all the officers.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I.

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Speaker 3: Guess when you look back a couple of years, there

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Speaker 3: was that period We've spoken about this before about the

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Speaker 3: lack of recruitment for twelve months of constable positions. I

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Speaker 3: think that's really biting now when you look at the

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Speaker 3: vacancies we have in Darwin. So whilst they're saying we've

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Speaker 3: got record numbers. When you talk about funded positions versus

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Speaker 3: the actual people in those positions, there is an issue

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Speaker 3: because we've got several vacancies for example here in Darwen

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Speaker 3: not Field at the moment. And also when you look

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Speaker 3: at the heavy investment into the police auxiliary liquors scheme,

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Speaker 3: inspector scheme. Now, they're not general duties frontline response personnel.

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Speaker 3: So you know if they're including those seventy five positions

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Speaker 3: as well, well, that's a bit of a fold in

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Speaker 3: a position when you say that they're actually not frontline

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Speaker 3: responders to the community's concerns. So I guess that's why

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Speaker 3: the minister's saying, well, let's have a look at the books,

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Speaker 3: let's see where people are, what they're doing, and see

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Speaker 3: if a restructure can help alleviate some of the concerns.

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Speaker 1: Now, obviously the opposition leader Leofanochiaro had been calling for

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Speaker 1: a Select committee to also look into the police force.

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Speaker 1: I know that I understand that that leg or that

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Speaker 1: that motion is going to be happening at about ten

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Speaker 1: o'clock this morning. Paul, do you think that that still

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Speaker 1: needs to happen now that we know obviously these reviews

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Speaker 1: are taking place or what are your thoughts.

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Speaker 3: Well, I mean the Minister's committed to having a look.

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Speaker 3: But ultimately this is a further example of what we

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Speaker 3: need to do to really take our head out of

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Speaker 3: the sand, so to speak. Really there are concerns around

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Speaker 3: attrition rates, as concerns around how police are feeling in

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Speaker 3: the force at the moment and also what they're being

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Speaker 3: asked to do on a day to day basis. And

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Speaker 3: we know that because that's direct feedback from our recent survey,

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Speaker 3: so we know the motion from our position today is

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Speaker 3: more than likely going to be knocked on the head.

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Speaker 3: I think the government have made that fairly fear. But

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Speaker 3: it has been ten years since a full external independent

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Speaker 3: review was taken undertaken in the police force, including you know,

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Speaker 3: what police are expected to do every single day they

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Speaker 3: go to work, whether it be dealing with a family

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Speaker 3: domestic violence matter, or a car accident or whatever the

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Speaker 3: case may be. We really need to have a look

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Speaker 3: because the inherent requirements of what police are being asked

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Speaker 3: to do these days are far greater than they were

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Speaker 3: just five years ago, yet alone ten years. So absolutely

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Speaker 3: there needs to be some sort of review into how

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Speaker 3: police are operating and what they're being asked to do

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Speaker 3: every day.

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Speaker 1: Now, Paul, do you think that as part of this restructure,

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Speaker 1: I mean the minister saying that absolutely a restructure is

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Speaker 1: on the table, do you expect that there would be

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Speaker 1: job losses as a result of that restructure.

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Speaker 3: Oh, look, I'm not sure that. I can't possibly see

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Speaker 3: in the current environment how you could say there's going

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Speaker 3: to be a lot of positions and if anything, you

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Speaker 3: would suggest the feedback and the figures would show we

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Speaker 3: need an increase, not a decrease. And you know the

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Speaker 3: reason I say that is quite frankly, whilst we're saying

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Speaker 3: we've got record numbers, you know, what we've been asking

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Speaker 3: our police to do nowadays, you know, is far greater

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Speaker 3: than ever before. So I wouldn't have thought the community

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Speaker 3: want to hear the government come out and say we're

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Speaker 3: going to have less police positions. I think that would

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Speaker 3: be a complete disaster.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you, particularly after you know, hearing

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Speaker 1: throughout that survey, like you've said that we've got our

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Speaker 1: police saying that they don't feel there's enough of them

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Speaker 1: to be able to, you know, to do their job.

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Speaker 2: Paul, I do want to ask you.

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Speaker 1: We know that last week, you know, it wasn't a

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Speaker 1: great week for the Northern Territory Police in the sense

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Speaker 1: that there were officers charged, there was another officer.

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Speaker 2: Who who was arrested.

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Speaker 1: What support is provided by the Police Association and what

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Speaker 1: was reaction to that situation last week.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, obviously we provide support no matter what eventuates.

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Speaker 3: And you know, whilst we certainly won't talk about specific matters,

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Speaker 3: any officer that finds themselves in trouble, whether it be

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Speaker 3: internally through the discipline process or externally being charged with

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Speaker 3: an offense, we provided advice and guidance for those people

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Speaker 3: and it's a very I think what's really frustrating from

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Speaker 3: our perspective, there was a lot of misinformation put out

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Speaker 3: through the media around some of the information on those matters,

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Speaker 3: which you know, these are people with families and and

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Speaker 3: you know, and they were really hurt by some of

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Speaker 3: the things that were put out. And you know, fact

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Speaker 3: checking is really important if a media outlet wants to

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Speaker 3: put some information out, get your facts right, because people

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Speaker 3: are affected significantly, and you know, we were there to

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Speaker 3: support many of these individuals and will continue to do so.

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Speaker 3: But you know, regardless of what's being alleged at the moment,

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Speaker 3: we need to let that process take it course, but

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Speaker 3: we'll continue to provide that support and advice that's required.

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Speaker 1: Well, was there something specific that you're wanting to sort

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Speaker 1: of say that the media had reported that was incorrect or.

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Speaker 3: There several outlets we're linking a particular police officer to

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Speaker 3: another particular officer who was also charged at a similar time. Now,

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Speaker 3: I'm not going to go in specifics, but people need

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Speaker 3: to get their facts right before they put matters out

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Speaker 3: in the public domain. That can significantly affect now our officers,

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Speaker 3: our members who were doing a tough job, and don't forget,

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Speaker 3: you know, the very difficult job for those people who

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Speaker 3: are investigating those matters as well. And you know, it

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Speaker 3: really does play a significant negative impact on those people's

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Speaker 3: health and well being, and we need to make sure

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Speaker 3: we're not going down that path.

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Speaker 1: Paul, I'm very fast running out of time. One quick

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Speaker 1: question for you. We know that obviously tougher consequences for

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Speaker 1: spitting on frontline emergency workers. It's going to be debated

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory Parliament this week. The colp are

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Speaker 1: pushing for mandatory jail sentences for anyone who spits on

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Speaker 1: or assaults a frontline worker, even if it's their first offense,

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Speaker 1: while the government wants to bring in greater penalties.

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Speaker 2: Paul, what do you reckon?

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Speaker 3: Look, we obviously will support this legislation. Any increase in

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Speaker 3: maximum penalty is good around around assaults on our members.

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Speaker 3: But of course, you know, we're very heavily focused on

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Speaker 3: the minimums and eating provisions, and you know, spitting is

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Speaker 3: a completely vile, disgusting act, and we do support the legislation,

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Speaker 3: but certainly we'll want to continue to push for that

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Speaker 3: minimum provision to be improved. The maximums are already very strong,

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Speaker 3: but we do support the legislation going through.

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Speaker 1: Police Association President Paul mckew, We appreciate your time this morning,

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for speaking with us.

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Speaker 3: Good on you.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you,