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Speaker 1: It is busy, busy in here this morning, and there

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Speaker 1: is so much happening around the place. Now we know

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Speaker 1: that overnight well, Northern Territory Police arrested a man after

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Speaker 1: he allegedly targeted police with his vehicle in Alice Springs.

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Speaker 1: So about ten thirty, several units responded to this disturbance

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Speaker 1: that was occurring on Todd Street involving multiple people. Joining

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Speaker 1: me in the studio right now is the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: Police Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you morning, Cody mon is your listeners.

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Speaker 1: Assistant commissioner tell us what happened at about ten thirty

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Speaker 1: last night.

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Speaker 3: So about ten thirty last night, police had responded to

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Speaker 3: some calls in relation to some disturbances in the wills

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Speaker 3: Terrace area, so Todd Tavern area and the Willis Terrace

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Speaker 3: car park. As a consequence of that, there were a

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Speaker 3: number of police attended. A police vehicle pulled up and

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Speaker 3: parked on wills Terrace facing toward the Todd River just

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Speaker 3: before the Todd Tavern. As a consequence of the disturbances

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Speaker 3: in the car park, one officer alighted from the passenger

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Speaker 3: lighted from this police vehicle, and then the driver got

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Speaker 3: out of the vehicle and then got back in because

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Speaker 3: he was going to move the police car. At about

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Speaker 3: the same time, there was a person who got into

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Speaker 3: a blue BT fifty in the Will's Terrace car park.

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Speaker 2: He exited the car.

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Speaker 3: Park and then drove east along wills Terrace so toward

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Speaker 3: the Todd River, accelerated rapidly. The vehicle actually fishtailed because

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Speaker 3: of the acceleration, and the vehicle drove directly toward the

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Speaker 3: police officer was standing on the edge of the footpath

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Speaker 3: on the edge of the road at the rear of

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Speaker 3: the police vehicle. That vehicle did not accelerate, continued to

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Speaker 3: move directly towards the police officer. He stepped back, drew

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Speaker 3: his firearm and fired three rounds at the vehicle. The

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Speaker 3: vehicle at speed struck the rear of the police vehicle.

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Speaker 3: As a consequence of that, thirty eight year old male

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Speaker 3: was arrested from that vehicle. He was the driver of

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Speaker 3: the BT fifty. There were no other people in that vehicle.

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Speaker 3: The rounds that were fired by the police officer did

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Speaker 3: not strike anyone. As I said, there was only one

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Speaker 3: person in that vehicle. No one was injured from the

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Speaker 3: firearm discharge. The person that was arrested by police was

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Speaker 3: taken into police custody and straight to Alice Springs Hospital

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Speaker 3: for assessment. Whilst he was being assessed, he spat at

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Speaker 3: both the police and hospital staff. He was later sedated,

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Speaker 3: but after he was sedated and assessed, he was determined

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Speaker 3: to be fit for custody and was transferred to Alice

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Speaker 3: Springs Police Watchhouse. He's currently in police custody and assisting

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Speaker 3: police for their investigations. As part of the investigation, he's

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Speaker 3: yet to be charged with any offenses. The police officer

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Speaker 3: that there was a police officer sitting in the driver's

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Speaker 3: seat of the police vehicle that was struck.

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Speaker 2: He also was assessed that Alice Springs Hospital.

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Speaker 3: For for any injuries that may have been sustained as

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Speaker 3: a consequence of the force of the vehicle. That all right,

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Speaker 3: He's been assessed and he's been since released, and we're

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Speaker 3: hoping that there's no other injuries that haven't.

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Speaker 2: Yet manifested themselves.

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Speaker 3: From a policing perspective, this has been deemed as a

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Speaker 3: serious custody incident. As accordance with our policy, we have

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Speaker 3: a full structure in place, including an overall investigator in charge.

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Speaker 2: He's a detective superintendent. He's based in Ala Springs.

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Speaker 3: Our Springs Investigations team are fully activated and working through

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Speaker 3: this investigation. There was a crime scene established. That crime

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Speaker 3: scene is still in place, and we've got lots of

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Speaker 3: work to do around managing that crime scene.

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Speaker 1: So presumably the shots that were fired were fired as

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Speaker 1: a defensive measure by that police officer as a vehicle's

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Speaker 1: being driven at it.

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Speaker 3: So as part of I just have done with the

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Speaker 3: Commissioner a press conference in relation to this. As part

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Speaker 3: of that, we've released some CCTV footage of the actual

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Speaker 3: incident site. That footage is very clear that shows the

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Speaker 3: police officer was in imminent danger, and that danger was

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Speaker 3: if he had been struck by that vehicle, it's likely

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Speaker 3: that he could have lost his life.

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Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner like, how concerned are you at the moment?

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Speaker 1: You've got people in the community in Alice Springs that

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Speaker 1: are driving cars at your offices.

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Speaker 3: So we've had vehicles that have targeted police in the past,

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Speaker 3: but not at this speed, not with this gravity, not

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Speaker 3: with what appears to be this intent. This is a

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Speaker 3: really serious set of circumstances that we, from an investcative

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Speaker 3: point of view, are taking extremely seriously. So we've got

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Speaker 3: two investigations running parallel. One is the criminal investigation into

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Speaker 3: the individual's conduct, and then we have the serious custody incident,

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Speaker 3: which is more of an internal assessment that has been

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Speaker 3: done in conjunction with our professional Standards Command who provide assistance.

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Speaker 2: From an oversight perspective, the behavior of this.

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Speaker 3: Individual in this vehicle extremely dangerous, harborrant and placed officers

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Speaker 3: and members of the community, but first and foremost officers

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Speaker 3: at extreme risk and the officer involved who discharges FIREHM

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Speaker 3: had to take drastic measures to ensure both his safety

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Speaker 3: and the safety of the public around him.

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Speaker 1: Have you spoken to him this morning?

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Speaker 3: No, I haven't, but I do know that the Alice

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Speaker 3: Springs leadership team have wrapped around him. He's been provided

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Speaker 3: significant welfare support. The Northern Territory Police Association are also

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Speaker 3: engaged and will continue to work through his well being

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Speaker 3: and his colleague and all the other Alic Springs officers

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Speaker 3: as well as this particular investigation continued.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we've seen an escalation over the last few weeks,

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Speaker 1: so certainly there's been some pretty serious incidents over the

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Speaker 1: last few weeks. In fact, I believe one of those

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Speaker 1: brawls on a Friday afternoon a couple of Fridays ago,

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Speaker 1: was outside the Todd Tavern as well, where somebody was

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Speaker 1: armed with a machete. There was vision sort of being

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Speaker 1: shed all over the place. What is going on? Like,

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Speaker 1: are we talking about people that are Alice Springs residents?

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Speaker 1: Have we got you know? Is it family feuding? What

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Speaker 1: is happening?

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Speaker 3: I understand and we've got so. Generically, I understand that

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Speaker 3: there is a number of incidents that occurred in Central

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Speaker 3: Australia over the last a couple of months that have

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Speaker 3: caused lots of family tension, and a lot of that

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Speaker 3: tension has spilled over into other springs. The exact circumstances

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Speaker 3: around what led to this scenario overnight, I'm yet to

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Speaker 3: fully understand, so I'm loath to sort of make any

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Speaker 3: comment or speculate, but generally speaking, yes, there's been lots

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Speaker 3: of incidents that have led to lots of spill over

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Speaker 3: in other springs. A lot of the folk involved aren't

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Speaker 3: necessarily out of Springs residents, but they are drawn into

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Speaker 3: other springs.

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Speaker 2: Other springs at the moment.

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Speaker 3: Because of the weather, event has had lots of people

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Speaker 3: come into town and can't leave, So there's probably more

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Speaker 3: in more people in other springs than may ordinarily be

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Speaker 3: the case.

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Speaker 1: What assurances can you give the broader public? You know,

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Speaker 1: this kind of thing happening on the straight, it's scary stuff.

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Speaker 1: It's scary for everybody involved. But I know if you

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Speaker 1: live there, you'd be thinking, goodness me, you know, can

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Speaker 1: something like this happen in the middle of the day.

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Speaker 1: Am I going to see somebody brandishing a machete? Is

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Speaker 1: there going to be some driving down the street at

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Speaker 1: speed towards me? What assurances would you give the people

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Speaker 1: of Alice Springs this morning?

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Speaker 3: So, unfortunately, we have seen a shift in conduct and

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Speaker 3: behavior of the very small sector of the community.

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Speaker 2: They are behaving in this way.

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Speaker 3: The only reassurance that I can give that most of

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Speaker 3: this behavior is directed specifically, directed at other individuals, not

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Speaker 3: at the general public. So if you see it, step back,

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Speaker 3: stay away, keep clear, and advise the police that you

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Speaker 3: can see something that's occurring. Most of the activity that

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Speaker 3: I'm aware of has been exactly that and hasn't been

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Speaker 3: affecting the general population. That being said, it is really

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Speaker 3: confronting to witness at first hand, if you're so placed,

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Speaker 3: but also just to hear about it or observe it

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Speaker 3: on social media. It is really quite confronted well.

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Speaker 1: And we're also seeing what I would describe as an

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Speaker 1: escalation in violence towards first responder. So, I mean, I

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Speaker 1: caught up with Craig Garaway about a week and a

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Speaker 1: half ago and spoke about some of the violence that

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Speaker 1: paramedics are on the receiving end of at the moment.

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Speaker 1: I mean, to have a car driven at an officer

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Speaker 1: last night is frightening stuff for you. You must be

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Speaker 1: pretty worried about that. Escalation towards frontline services.

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Speaker 3: Look absolutely, And one thing I will say is that

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Speaker 3: our training is well classed. Officers are extremely well trained

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Speaker 3: through training and then the ongoing training they get. I

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Speaker 3: would suggest that the scenario that played out last night

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Speaker 3: and the way in which it transpired is indicative of

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Speaker 3: that high class training that that individual had been through.

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Speaker 3: They need to be trained well because society is changing.

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Speaker 3: The world is changing, expectations are changing. The way in

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Speaker 3: which people see what the role of polices is changing,

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Speaker 3: and expectations around what we do is changing, and that

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Speaker 3: actually creates a more volatile environment for us to operate.

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Speaker 3: It doesn't matter whether that's in other springs or anywhere else.

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Speaker 3: The role of being a police officer nationally glob has

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Speaker 3: changed and the territory is no different, and that means

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Speaker 3: that at times the danger levels that we're exposed to

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Speaker 3: are heightened.

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Speaker 1: Just finally, are there any additional resources being flown into

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Speaker 1: our springs or any additional measures that you guys taking

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Speaker 1: there as a result of this situation?

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Speaker 3: So a number of people were already arrested in relation

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Speaker 3: to the disturbance that police had initially attended.

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Speaker 2: This individual was arrested.

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Speaker 3: We have sufficient investigative and criminal A crime scene investigation

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Speaker 3: resources in other springs, so there is no need for

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Speaker 3: additional resources. I'm sure the public that we have dealt

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Speaker 3: with what occurred last night. It's not to say that

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Speaker 3: they might be and not other flare ups that occur.

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Speaker 3: We've been seeing that. What we have done this morning,

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Speaker 3: we've engaged our cultural reform team to understand what happened

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Speaker 3: last night to make sure that the arrests that have

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Speaker 3: has occurred in relation to this thirty eight year old

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Speaker 3: mail doesn't cause any other concerns in the community, and

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Speaker 3: so we can continue to maintain a good understanding of

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Speaker 3: what the tensions are, what they're about, and trying to

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Speaker 3: get in front of them so that we don't have

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Speaker 3: scenarios like last night that play out again.

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Speaker 1: Well, Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst, really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Gutting