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Speaker 1: Well, we know that. In an effort to bolster support

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Speaker 1: for families facing domestic violence, the Northern Territory Police have

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Speaker 1: launched a coresponder program in Alice Springs and Palmister So Police,

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Speaker 1: child protection, victim survivor services, and behavior change specialists are

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Speaker 1: now going to work side by side to intervene earlier

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Speaker 1: and better coordinate help. The changes aim to combat the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory's horrific rates of domestic violence. And joining us

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Speaker 1: on the show to tell us more about the initiative

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Speaker 1: in Alice Springs is the Alice Springs Police Superintendent Rob Kens.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Robert, Good morning Katie, Thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for your time this morning. Now, how exactly does

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Speaker 1: the program work?

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Speaker 2: So it brings together, as you said, please, child protection

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Speaker 2: and victims survivor specialists and services that also support people

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Speaker 2: who use violence, and we come together each day and

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Speaker 2: we have the ability now to be able to exchange

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Speaker 2: information and talk about the risks of social out of

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Speaker 2: our relationships and then do that early intervention piece and

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Speaker 2: go out and do the engagement and work out what's

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Speaker 2: affecting people in their lives and how we can best

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Speaker 2: address what's happening.

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Speaker 1: So I know that this has already been operating in

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Speaker 1: other locations. Well, my understanding is that it has, but

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Speaker 1: this is the role out now in Alice Springs. Is

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Speaker 1: that correct?

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Speaker 2: So we've been trialing a down and Alice Springs for

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Speaker 2: most of the year. However on the twenty nine to

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Speaker 2: September it's rolled out or started formally in both Alice

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Speaker 2: Springs and Palmsen.

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Speaker 1: And how does it differ from how we used to

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Speaker 1: deal with domestic violence callouts?

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Speaker 2: It just provides that next level of service. So we

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Speaker 2: have always assessed the risk, we have always made support

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Speaker 2: link referrals or referrals to other organizations for support. This

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Speaker 2: really just formalizes the plan around how we do that

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Speaker 2: intervention work and provides all the information of the services

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Speaker 2: that need it so that they're armed and able to

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Speaker 2: go out and do that work.

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Speaker 1: And in terms of the co location of child protection

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Speaker 1: practitioners and also those behavior change specialists, how do you

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Speaker 1: reckon it is going to improve the outcomes for both

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Speaker 1: victim survivors and also children.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's a really important question though one I'm

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Speaker 2: very optimistic that this will make some real differences to

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Speaker 2: the vulnerable members of our community. As I said, it

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Speaker 2: gives child protection, the victim survivors specialists and the people

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Speaker 2: who are the services who work with people who use

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Speaker 2: violence or the firsthand information at the time of you

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Speaker 2: very shortly after police attendance, so they can do that

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Speaker 2: early engagement.

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Speaker 1: Robert, I mean it very often feels like police are

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Speaker 1: there at you know, like at the cliff face when

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Speaker 1: these incidents are happening, you know, all the time. How

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Speaker 1: important is it for the Northern Territory Police as well

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Speaker 1: to have those other services really intertwine to be able

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Speaker 1: to you know, to help with what we have seen

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Speaker 1: become a real crisis for us in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Well, I don't think this will come as a surprise

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Speaker 2: to yourself or anybody else. It's basically two of the

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Speaker 2: work that place do is response to domestic violence. So

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Speaker 2: you know, we have to have other services on board,

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Speaker 2: child protection and those services that work with the people

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Speaker 2: who are involved in relationships to help mitigate some of

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Speaker 2: the risks that involved Robert.

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Speaker 1: Look, I know it's a question that's potentially a hard

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Speaker 1: one to answer, but how will the program measure success

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Speaker 1: or effectiveness? Like what metrics or indicators should be tracked

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Speaker 1: so that we can tell whether it's working, because I

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Speaker 1: guess that's been another thing that's been long discussed across

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory, the fact that we over the years

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Speaker 1: have had plenty of different programs, plenty of different models,

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Speaker 1: and you know, some of them have worked really effectively.

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Speaker 1: For some who are watching from the outside in, they're thinking,

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Speaker 1: these numbers just continue to grow and we continue to

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Speaker 1: see really tragic deaths, So how will we measure, you know,

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Speaker 1: whether this is effective.

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Speaker 2: Look, there will be a system of reviewers the project continues. However,

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Speaker 2: you know, I don't think in the short term you're

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Speaker 2: going to see necessari or reduction in the number of

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Speaker 2: incidences that police attend. We're still going to have two

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Speaker 2: thirds of our response is probably going to be committed

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Speaker 2: to domestic violence response. What I think you'll see in

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Speaker 2: the long term is a reduction in the level of

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Speaker 2: violence and other stuff that is associated with domestic violence.

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Speaker 2: As he rightly pointed out, how our death rate is

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Speaker 2: associated with domestic violence is horrendous and that is something

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Speaker 2: that we're really keen to see produced well.

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Speaker 1: Alice Springs, Superintendent of the Northern Territory Police Robert Kent,

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for chatting with us.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Thank you