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Speaker 1: We have been speaking a bit about some of the

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Speaker 1: issues that have been experienced in Catherine over the last

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Speaker 1: week or so. On Friday last week, we caught up

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Speaker 1: with a couple of the business owners there who'd been

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Speaker 1: subjected to some terrible behavior from youths running a muck.

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Speaker 1: You will recall that Carrie had joined us from the

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Speaker 1: beauty bar there and spoken about the concerns the damage

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Speaker 1: that had been caused. Now joining me on the line

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Speaker 1: is local resident Trent de With Good morning to your Trent.

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Speaker 2: Good morning now, Trent, You and I.

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Speaker 1: Well, we try to keep it pretty positive most times

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Speaker 1: when we talk, but it sounds like it's been a bloody,

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Speaker 1: pretty terrible situation for you guys over the last few days.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, we worked really hard on keeping keeping people's

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Speaker 2: mindset of you know, moving forward, staying positive and things

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Speaker 2: like that. But you know, some of these poor business

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Speaker 2: owners are just at breaking point where you know, you

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Speaker 2: can try to talk to them positively, but you can

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Speaker 2: see their head just goes in their hands and they're

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Speaker 2: just over the senseless destruction and the consistent stealing and

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Speaker 2: things that go on on a daily basis. I don't

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Speaker 2: know any other shops in a main street that has

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Speaker 2: to lock their door. You have to walk up knocked

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Speaker 2: to be let in, and then the door gets locked

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Speaker 2: behind you. That's the measure that a couple of stores

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Speaker 2: are taken in the main streets simply to keep out

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Speaker 2: groups of youth from running amuck in there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, this is the thing, you know. Look nowhere else

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Speaker 1: do I know where you're having to close your shop

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Speaker 1: throughout the day. It's pretty unbelievable stuff, you know, Trump,

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Speaker 1: paint a picture for us as to how locals are feeling, because,

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Speaker 1: as I said, from the outset, you are ever the optimist, mate,

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Speaker 1: and I know that you have. You know, you love

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Speaker 1: that place, as do so many of the people that

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Speaker 1: listen to this show that live in Catherine. So just

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Speaker 1: paint a picture for us in terms of how it's

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Speaker 1: been and how people are feeling.

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Speaker 2: I think, Katie, the best way to put it is,

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Speaker 2: we're just tired where you know, the positivity it only

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Speaker 2: lasts so long, you know, when we're trying our absolute

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Speaker 2: harder to put on a brave face, and you know

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Speaker 2: we're going into the the point of our town where

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Speaker 2: we receive all of these tourists coming in, you know,

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Speaker 2: and we want to put on the best picture we

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Speaker 2: can for them and show them what our town's about,

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Speaker 2: what our community is about, all the great things here

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Speaker 2: we have to offer. But it's getting very hard when

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Speaker 2: we're constantly repairing windows where you know, you can't access

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Speaker 2: one end of the local shopping center because it's been

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Speaker 2: smashed in for the fifteenth time, you know, and that

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Speaker 2: takes another month or two to get that sixth and

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Speaker 2: that's our main entrant for our tourists to arrive. So

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Speaker 2: their first picture of Captain is they arise, they go

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Speaker 2: in to walk into our local supermarket and oh see,

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Speaker 2: I can't get in the store. It looks like it's

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Speaker 2: been smashed in, you know. And that's the picture we're presenting,

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Speaker 2: which we don't want to present and I don't want

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Speaker 2: to broad task yeah doing, but we're at the point

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Speaker 2: where we're just tired. We just need some help, you know.

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Speaker 2: And we go through good phases. Don't get me wrong.

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Speaker 2: We've had a really good run, you know, I suppose

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Speaker 2: what you could call a good run for the last

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Speaker 2: few months. And we're always quick to point out the

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Speaker 2: bad times, but you know, we also don't point out

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Speaker 2: the good times. And we have had a few good

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Speaker 2: runs lately, it's just this flare up over the last

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Speaker 2: few weeks. It's really escalated to the next level where

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Speaker 2: some of these kids are just not fearful at all

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Speaker 2: of who you are and what the outcomes are going

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Speaker 2: to be of what they're doing.

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Speaker 1: So, Trent, I know that you've done a lot over

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Speaker 1: recent weeks and months in terms of, you know, fundraising

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Speaker 1: for other victims of crime, but also trying your best

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Speaker 1: to get the trailer set up, going out and helping

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Speaker 1: in response to some of these incidents. How are things going,

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Speaker 1: you know, with the with the trailer and heading out

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Speaker 1: and helping. I know that there's so many locals that

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Speaker 1: actually want to help each other out and do the

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Speaker 1: right thing. Do we lose? Do we lose your trends?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm back you there, I here mate.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So from from that, from that point of view, Katie,

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Speaker 2: like I, I'm a big, big advocate for put your

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Speaker 2: hand up and have a crack at something. If you

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Speaker 2: live in Catherine, you're obliged to help your community, to

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Speaker 2: present your community in the best way. And now, whether

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Speaker 2: that's through even just simple things like cleaning up the

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Speaker 2: front of your shop or volunteering at the local youth shelter,

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Speaker 2: you know, getting to know some of these kids, and

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Speaker 2: like I believe, you don't have the right to criticize

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Speaker 2: unless you're having a crack at doing something. And that's

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Speaker 2: what you know, with our association, that's what we're trying

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Speaker 2: to push that stand up, have a goot, stand for

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Speaker 2: your town, you know, stand with the person beside you.

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Speaker 2: That's the only way we're going to move forward out

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Speaker 2: of this. If if there are kids wrapping a mark,

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Speaker 2: you know, then maybe a few of you could get

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Speaker 2: together just put on that strong front. But hey, you're

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Speaker 2: not going to accept this and move them out of

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Speaker 2: the area where they're running a up, you know. Just Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it's a very difficult thing because there's so many regulations

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Speaker 2: and stuff about you know, what you can and can't do.

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Speaker 2: So it's about trying to keep it safe, but at

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Speaker 2: the same time letting people know this is not acceptable.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent, now, Trent, tell me my understanding.

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Speaker 1: We spoke to the acting Deputy Commissioner of the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory Police yesterday who said that there is certainly Murray

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Speaker 1: small Page. One of the other commissioners had been in Catherine,

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Speaker 1: and they are looking at the different measures that they

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Speaker 1: that they can sort of take to try to help

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Speaker 1: the town. Have you seen an increase in police presence?

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Speaker 1: Are Are you starting to see things subside much at

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Speaker 1: this point?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we are. We've seen an increase in police presence.

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Speaker 2: But what makes me shake my head, Katie, is I've

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Speaker 2: seen an increase in speed camera van You know, like, yes,

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Speaker 2: they have a place in our society to keep us safe.

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Speaker 2: But when we're going through what we're going right now,

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Speaker 2: is it necessary to then send down police speed cameras,

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Speaker 2: get them out of that car, get them walking the

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Speaker 2: street and engaging with the community. You know, that's what

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Speaker 2: we need. We need to see police on the ground

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Speaker 2: engaging with people, not trying to find people for speeding

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Speaker 2: around the town. Like obviously that's unsafe. That come on,

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Speaker 2: we're going through a crisis. The last thing they need

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Speaker 2: now is to see the police here in force in

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Speaker 2: their speeding camera vans. Yeah, thats al for us is

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Speaker 2: we need an engagement center here in Catherine for police.

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Speaker 2: So at the moment, we have one police station, it's

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Speaker 2: three kilometers out of town. There's nothing in the CBD

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Speaker 2: where I can go to a local police officer and say, hey, mate,

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Speaker 2: I've just seen this down the street there two minutes ago.

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Speaker 2: I've got to wait online for five to ten minutes

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Speaker 2: on a phone call explain what's going on to someone

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Speaker 2: who doesn't even live here. By that time, those kids

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Speaker 2: are gone and moved on. So we really want to

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Speaker 2: see more police presence on the engagement side with the community.

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Speaker 2: You know, let's go open back up a shopfront down

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Speaker 2: here where we can have police in front of us.

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Speaker 2: You know, I can go and talk to someone who

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Speaker 2: lives in the town who knows what we're going through.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, I think that you'll have plenty of people

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Speaker 1: in Catherine listening this morning and agreeing with you, particularly

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Speaker 1: after the conversations that we've had over the last few

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Speaker 1: days from the residents of Catherine Trained in terms of

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Speaker 1: the government response. I mean, you've spoken there about the

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Speaker 1: fact that you do think there needs to be an

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Speaker 1: engagement center. There needs to be a situation where people

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Speaker 1: can go into somewhere in the city to speak to

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Speaker 1: the police. Is there more that could be happening at

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Speaker 1: this point?

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Speaker 2: One hundred percent? You know, obviously, Look, you know we're

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Speaker 2: in a retail business. We know what staff shortages are, like,

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Speaker 2: I assume that a police shortage is the same thing

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Speaker 2: with staff shortages as well. You know, I have friends

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Speaker 2: that the police officers they are working shifts that are

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Speaker 2: unreasonable in my opinion, because there's not enough staff. You know,

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Speaker 2: they do extra over time and they are under the pump,

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Speaker 2: and and I don't know what the answer is to

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Speaker 2: getting more people to join the police, or at least

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Speaker 2: getting more police down here, but we definitely need to

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Speaker 2: see just some more engagement. And you know, we had

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Speaker 2: a good run there where we had the mounted police

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Speaker 2: down here and now we're patrolling on the horses, Catherine

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Speaker 2: Police on horses, like they just go together, and we

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Speaker 2: saw a huge decrease in crime while they were in town.

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Speaker 2: As soon as they leave, it's all over. We're back

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Speaker 2: up in a few weeks time, we're back doing the

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Speaker 2: same thing again. So it would be good to have

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Speaker 2: that permanent presence, that permanent engagement with the Catherine community.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Trent to with We always appreciate your time, mate,

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Speaker 1: really appreciate you having a chat with us this morning,

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Speaker 1: and let's hope next time we talk there's some more

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Speaker 1: positive stuff happening. Because I know that you love Catherine

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Speaker 1: and you certainly like talking to us about all the

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Speaker 1: great stuff that's happening. So I'm sure next time we

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Speaker 1: have a chat we'll be able to talk about that.

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Speaker 2: Fingers cross, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Thanks, good on you mate. Thank you