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Speaker 1: There is no doubt that it's been a massive year

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Speaker 1: for the Northern Territory Police, a year which has not

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Speaker 1: been with our controversy and numerous issues across the board.

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

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Speaker 1: Territory Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker. Good morning to you, Commissioner. Firstly,

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Speaker 1: a couple of incidents well from overnight. I might go

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Speaker 1: firstly to the fact that we do know that a

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Speaker 1: man attempted to sexually assault a child during broad daylight

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Speaker 1: in Palmerston earlier this week. I understand that that offender

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Speaker 1: has now been located, not only.

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Speaker 2: Located, but also arrested, so they're currently in our custody

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Speaker 2: and we'll go through the conclusion of our investigation phase

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Speaker 2: with that particular individual. But a lot of dedicated work

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Speaker 2: that went across the form of our frontline responding, our

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Speaker 2: investigation teams on the ground, working with their forensics teams

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Speaker 2: and being able to affect that arrest this morning. Equally,

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Speaker 2: we've had our team working with the victim and their family,

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Speaker 2: a lot of support that we've been able to arrange

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Speaker 2: with them, putting him into contact with relevant services and

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Speaker 2: making sure that they're going to Boka and be able

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Speaker 2: to move into their future as well.

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Speaker 1: Now, I know some people have been questioning why when

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Speaker 1: the incident happened at two thirty on Wednesday, the public

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Speaker 1: weren't notified until yesterday at about eleven o'clock.

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Speaker 3: In the morning.

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Speaker 1: Why was there such a big sort of time gap

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Speaker 1: between then, that's at.

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Speaker 2: The discretion of the investigators to understand what's the best

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Speaker 2: practice for them. One of the most primary things that

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Speaker 2: they have to understand and consider is the risk to

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Speaker 2: the community, particularly for any inference that it might be

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Speaker 2: stranger danger related and the like. That's the assessment that

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Speaker 2: they made. We will have a look at that through

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Speaker 2: the course of things, but they do know that our

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Speaker 2: primary focus is to try and ensure that the community

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Speaker 2: are aware when it's appropriate, and certainly not to jeopardize

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Speaker 2: any criminal investigation.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess when you talk about that risk to

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Speaker 1: the community, particularly when that person was still at large,

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Speaker 1: that's why a lot of people would be wondering why

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Speaker 1: the community wasn't notified.

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Speaker 2: And again that comes down to the call for the investigators.

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Speaker 2: I should add that investigators tend to know a lot

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Speaker 2: more information than ordinarily we would do. We don't tend

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Speaker 2: to lean into the investigations will allow them to do that.

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Speaker 1: Now. Unfortunately, another situation overnight where police were targeted by

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Speaker 1: members of the community, this time in What Air. I

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Speaker 1: believe that a female officer was injured after I think

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Speaker 1: having rocks thrown at her.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, correct, really disappointing behavior. Last nights, her officers responded

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Speaker 2: to a call that her person had been injured with

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Speaker 2: an axe. They went there, a large group from an

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Speaker 2: opposing group of family had arrived there, up to one

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty on reported, and as they were trying

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Speaker 2: to engage, they started to be thrown to projectiles and rocks.

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Speaker 2: One of those rocks struck our officer to the face

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Speaker 2: t sentimentally laceration. I also out to go to the

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Speaker 2: clinic to have that treated and glued back, and then incredibly,

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Speaker 2: her and her partner returned to the location to continue

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Speaker 2: to engage with the victim and provide support to the victim.

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Speaker 2: I've been in touch with that officer and heard a

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Speaker 2: message back from her this morning because obviously she's been.

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Speaker 4: Resting, has a sore head.

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Speaker 2: But again, just incredible work for that whole team out

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Speaker 2: at What Air and really disappointing behavior. So my team

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Speaker 2: well aware that I'm expecting the community are going to

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Speaker 2: bring those offenders to the police station today.

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Speaker 1: So you are expecting that they're going to be bought,

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Speaker 1: that the community is actually going to bring them there.

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Speaker 2: Correct, that's what we've bust and I'm expecting that we'll

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Speaker 2: get that cooperation.

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Speaker 1: It must be a worry for you, as you as

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Speaker 1: the leader of the police force, to see a situation

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Speaker 1: where obviously that's unfolded last night. We know that we'd

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Speaker 1: had a few situations in recent weeks where we've literally

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Speaker 1: had vehicles driven at the police.

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Speaker 3: Some of it is just disgusting behavior.

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Speaker 2: It is, there's no defense to it, and it's all

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Speaker 2: individual behavior. Now, the harsh reality is there's always underlying

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Speaker 2: social issues that have caused these offenders to do the

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Speaker 2: behaviors that they do. It doesn't make it defensible, but

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Speaker 2: highlights that the police are ultimately at the end who

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Speaker 2: are having to be out there at twenty four to

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Speaker 2: seven to be able to deal with this. We're on

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Speaker 2: the front line, we're wearing it. My people are being

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Speaker 2: exposed to some of these behaviors. Disappoints me no end

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Speaker 2: to see that this sort of behavior goes on, and

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Speaker 2: that's why I'm merging that community of whatever to stand

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Speaker 2: up and bring those people forward.

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Speaker 1: Does it make it harder for police to be able

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Speaker 1: to do their jobs when they are being subjected to

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Speaker 1: that kind of behavior and in some cases it seems

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Speaker 1: like it's a lack of respect.

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Speaker 4: I think there's a number of factors to it.

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Speaker 2: I think respect, unfortunately, is one that people might ordinarily

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Speaker 2: make when.

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Speaker 4: They're sober and of sea and mind.

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Speaker 2: We're certainly, unfortunately seeing a significant rise in the consumption

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Speaker 2: of spirits as opposed to beer and the like, and

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Speaker 2: that subsequent behavior has seen far more harm across their community.

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Speaker 2: And we're again at the front end of that and

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Speaker 2: dealing with that, but also the rise of mental health.

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Speaker 2: It's very, very prominent, and we're responding to a whole

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Speaker 2: lot of those things, which is really disappointing.

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Speaker 1: When you talk about that alcohol issues. We know that

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Speaker 1: the ending of the Stronger Future's legislation happened recently. I mean,

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Speaker 1: have you seen an increase in some ofhol those alcohol

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Speaker 1: field issues.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, by the end of the year, we'll loom onto

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Speaker 2: six months since that's occurred. That'll give us a reasonable

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Speaker 2: line of sight to determine what trends we may have seen.

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Speaker 2: Certainly we are seeing presence of more public drinking in

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Speaker 2: some of the places that we hadn't seen for quite

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Speaker 2: a while. Does give a bit of an indication that

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Speaker 2: there's some secondary supply issues going on. But you know,

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Speaker 2: with our current demand, particularly on our family and domestic

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Speaker 2: violence resource, it's incredible. We responded to ninety seven family

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Speaker 2: domestic violence calls across the Northern Territory in the last

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Speaker 2: twenty four hours.

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Speaker 4: We only had nine.

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Speaker 2: Reports of unlawful entries. So that's how significant the demand

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Speaker 2: is on our resources.

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Speaker 1: Sorry, ninety seven in twenty four hours.

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Speaker 3: Well, how do you deal with that?

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Speaker 2: Well, we do, and therein lies part of what we've

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Speaker 2: got to start exploring. Now, many of those family domestic

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Speaker 2: violence related matters can constitute arguments and the like, but

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Speaker 2: we know unfortunately those things can escalate very quickly and

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Speaker 2: harm can arise as a result. So we've got significant

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Speaker 2: policy and procedure we have to follow. Unfortunately, there's been

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Speaker 2: multiple deaths in the Northern Territory over a long period

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Speaker 2: of time related to family and domestic violence. Four of

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Speaker 2: those deaths are a subject of a cranial that's been

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Speaker 2: joined together in the middle of next year, and we're

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Speaker 2: trying to prepare some broader concepts and ideas on how

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Speaker 2: police can be best supported to try and address that.

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Speaker 1: Well, I know even today there is obviously other No

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Speaker 1: More March which is happening. I believe it's inside Cashua

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Speaker 1: Square kicking off about eleven forty five. It is such

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Speaker 1: a scourge on us here in the Northern Territory, the

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Speaker 1: issues that we've got with domestic violence, and I mean

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Speaker 1: then the work that the police have to do is

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Speaker 1: really at the pointy end of that issue. But is

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Speaker 1: there enough being done before it reaches that point?

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Speaker 2: Well, I think that's the big issue that we've got

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Speaker 2: to try and understand as a collective is how do

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Speaker 2: we get in front of these social issues. You know,

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Speaker 2: we have the lowest incidence of welfare dependency in the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory. We saw that things that arose once those

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Speaker 2: double payments in COVID came through switch from beer and

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Speaker 2: wine to spirits and then unfortunate when that money disappeared,

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Speaker 2: we saw a switch to hand sanitizer being consumed and

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Speaker 2: all the broader social issues that arise from it. All

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Speaker 2: these youth we deal with, they come from both broken

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Speaker 2: family backgrounds and the like. So there's a collective effort

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Speaker 2: that we've got to keep trying to do as a community.

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Speaker 2: But the police are certainly front and center and that

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Speaker 2: demand environment is there for all to see.

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Speaker 1: One of the areas that we have seen some real

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Speaker 1: issues is Alice. It is something that we've spoken about

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Speaker 1: a lot on this show. We've had a lot of

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Speaker 1: people call through from Alice Springs. Police have indeed surged

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Speaker 1: in Central Australia locals, so they've seen a real change

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Speaker 1: in the behavior there with the police. With that increased

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Speaker 1: police presence, Commissioner, how long are those additional police going

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Speaker 1: to stay there?

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Speaker 2: We searched forty five extra down there that included our

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Speaker 2: mounted patrol, included resources from some of the neighboring remote

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Speaker 2: communities down there, but also from Darwin area, from some

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Speaker 2: of our other work areas and work units. To the

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Speaker 2: credit of all of those officers, they put their hands

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Speaker 2: up straight away.

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Speaker 4: Some were sleeping in their.

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Speaker 2: Own beds that morning and by that evening they were

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Speaker 2: on the beat down in Alice Springs, helping the front

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Speaker 2: line down there and helping that community to try and

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Speaker 2: turn things around. Currently, the operation runs to the fourteenth.

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Speaker 2: It was already's pre plan that we're going to have

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Speaker 2: an operation leading into the summer of Alice Springs.

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Speaker 4: That's very standard for us.

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Speaker 2: I've got a graduation tonight and we've got sixteen additional

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Speaker 2: resources who are being permanently based down into Alice Springs

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Speaker 2: early next week, who have graduated or have already been

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Speaker 2: here for six months, so they'll have a good surge

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Speaker 2: of resource in going into the Christmas period. We won't

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Speaker 2: be withdrawing those resources until we're satisfied that we've got

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Speaker 2: some good recalibration having occurred in that community.

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Speaker 1: So over the Christmas period in Aura Springs there will

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Speaker 1: be at least sixteen additional.

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Speaker 4: Place we've been deployed down there.

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Speaker 3: Why didn't we send them in earlier?

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Speaker 2: The truth of it is the resource pressures, and I've

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Speaker 2: just highlighted to you when we're dealing with ninety seven

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Speaker 2: family domestic violence issues. It's not exclusive to our springs.

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Speaker 2: It's across all parts of the Northern Territory. Certainly our

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Speaker 2: northern remote communities have been quite pressurized in recent times

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Speaker 2: as well. Catherine has had a spike an activity, significant

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Speaker 2: number of people living rough and increasing the overcrowding problem

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Speaker 2: through Catherine. So it's not a case that I've got

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Speaker 2: a luxury of significant resources that i can just move

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Speaker 2: where the problem is. For every action that we take,

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Speaker 2: unfortunately we're seeing a displacement effect. But the point with

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Speaker 2: Ola Springs was twelve year olds continually trying to play.

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Speaker 4: The game in the CBD.

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Speaker 2: We needed to make sure that that was as safe

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Speaker 2: as it could reasonly be and to try and sort

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Speaker 2: of take the temperature out of things. And it looks

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Speaker 2: like it's been very effective while having been able to

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Speaker 2: send those resources, but it does come across to other areas.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you said then twelve year old sort of

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Speaker 1: playing the game, and I know that that's something we've

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Speaker 1: spoken about again across the board right around the territory.

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Speaker 3: When you talk about some.

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Speaker 1: Of the issues that we've got with youths, You've mentioned

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Speaker 1: some of the reasons, some of the causes for those

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Speaker 1: youths being out on the streets, But we now also

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Speaker 1: know that the age of criminal responsibility has obviously been

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Speaker 1: raised to fourteen operationally. Does that make it more difficult

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Speaker 1: for your officers to then be dealing with young people

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Speaker 1: under the age of criminal responsibility.

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Speaker 2: We're working with territory families to understand exactly what we

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Speaker 2: can do with those individuals when we come across them.

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Speaker 4: The simple fact of the matter is.

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Speaker 2: We need to be able to know how we can

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Speaker 2: engage relevant services with these youths when we come across them.

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Speaker 2: It's no great secret we're coming across them at two

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Speaker 2: am in the morning, three am in the morning, sometimes

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Speaker 2: in supermarkets, in people's residences, in people's yards. So if

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Speaker 2: they're under the age of twelve, we want to be

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Speaker 2: able to know categorically how do we put pass that

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Speaker 2: child on because clearly I would suggest at that time

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Speaker 2: of the night and in the circumstances we find them,

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Speaker 2: they're a child in need of care.

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Speaker 1: Well, and this is the whole point, you know, has

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Speaker 1: that been worked through then in terms of if you

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Speaker 1: let's say there's a child on the streets at twelve

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Speaker 1: o'clock at night that has engaged in behavior that ordinarily well,

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Speaker 1: that nobody deems okay, you know, whether it's the theft

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Speaker 1: of a vehicle or break an entry. So them at

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Speaker 1: this point, what do the police do do they have

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Speaker 1: to call territory families.

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Speaker 2: And that's you know, once the legislation comes in for

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Speaker 2: that age. But clearly we deal with offenders already that

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Speaker 2: are under the age of ten, and we have those issues.

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Speaker 2: So we're always trying to work to our first priorities.

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Speaker 2: How do we cease the recurrence of offending of that

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Speaker 2: particular youth. How do we make sure the relevant services

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Speaker 2: have been activated now that that age group is intended

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Speaker 2: to change. That's what we're working with Territory families to

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Speaker 2: understand the very scenarios that we're confronting and.

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Speaker 4: How do we best do that.

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Speaker 2: Because of course our demand environment, as I've just spoken about,

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Speaker 2: particularly with family and domestic violence, continues to come through,

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Speaker 2: so those calls are waiting for us to respond. I

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Speaker 2: can't afford to have a van tied up looking after

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Speaker 2: a child for three or four hours because nobody else

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Speaker 2: is on the ground to look after them.

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Speaker 3: Well, absolutely not.

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Speaker 1: If you're in a situation where there's ninety seven domestic

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Speaker 1: violence incidents that you're trying to get out to in

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Speaker 1: a twenty four hour period, I would suggest that the

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Speaker 1: police have got some more pressing issues to deal with.

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Speaker 2: Correct But again for our community and where these issues

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Speaker 2: are at the moment. Yeah, the frequency which we have

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Speaker 2: youth out and about at those hours is of concern.

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Speaker 1: So when do you anticipate that you'll sort of have

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Speaker 1: the answers to those questions logistically in terms of how.

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Speaker 3: They'll be dealt with.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's going to continue over the course of the

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Speaker 2: Christmas period, So the teams are on deck, still working

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Speaker 2: through what that all looks like and shapes up like

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Speaker 2: the policies and procedures will come to the fore for

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Speaker 2: when the legislation ultimately comes into force.

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Speaker 1: Now, Commissioner, we know that morale of the police force

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Speaker 1: has been a big issue this year. That Police Association

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Speaker 1: survey that obviously happened early in the year was scathing

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Speaker 1: of morale and also of your leadership. Do you feel

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Speaker 1: that things have gotten better significantly.

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Speaker 4: I've been very fortunate.

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Speaker 2: I've been able to travel in the last couple of

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Speaker 2: weeks ago and visit many of our people. I've been

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Speaker 2: out to a number of our remote communities, out to

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Speaker 2: Nullen Boy, Catherine Tenant Creek, Alice Springs, overnighting engagement with people.

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Speaker 2: Certainly in Upswing, they're starting to provide feedback that they

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Speaker 2: now understand what's been going on a lot of the

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Speaker 2: information they're now seeing through, which is really pleasing. This

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Speaker 2: is information they're providing to me and they're quite bored

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Speaker 2: about where we're going. And certainly we all know we

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Speaker 2: want the cronial inquest over and done with. There's significant

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Speaker 2: lessons in there for us, but we've done a heck

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Speaker 2: of a lot of work to try and get in

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Speaker 2: advance of that, so that by the time twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: three rolls along, we're on an upswing to really try

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Speaker 2: and see a brighter future for everyone.

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Speaker 4: In the territory.

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Speaker 1: So you're saying that rank and file officers are saying

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Speaker 1: to you that they're more confident in the work that

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Speaker 1: you're doing.

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Speaker 4: Correct. Yep.

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Speaker 3: Now I do want to ask, how are those police

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Speaker 3: numbers looking at the moment?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, good sir.

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Speaker 2: Our last pay was sixteen hundred and forty fte our

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Speaker 2: establishments it's at fifteen hundred and eighty eight, so we're

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Speaker 2: well above those numbers at the moment. We'll always eb

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Speaker 2: and flow with our numbers, but we've never fallen between

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Speaker 2: below fifteen eighty eight, which is the benchmark that I

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Speaker 2: have to try and keep a gas in my view

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Speaker 2: to make sure that I've got appropriate resourcing available on

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Speaker 2: the ground. So it does come at a budgetary costs

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Speaker 2: for me, but it's one that I do on behalf

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Speaker 2: of the.

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Speaker 1: Community how many are off on leave, because I know

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Speaker 1: that's been a contentious issue as well throughout the year,

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Speaker 1: having a juggle people that maybe didn't get leave throughout

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Speaker 1: covert and now catching up on.

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Speaker 3: It, or on sick leave or on long term sick leave.

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Speaker 2: We invariably try and have a perimeter of about twenty

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Speaker 2: percent at any given time on recreation leave and long

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Speaker 2: service leave. And then of course you have the emergent

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Speaker 2: issues where people have to go away unexpectedly. We can

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Speaker 2: average at any given point in time between twenty five

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Speaker 2: to thirty percent of our resources being unavailable, but we

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Speaker 2: try and factor that in with effective rostering and trying

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Speaker 2: to make sure that we're balancing it by limiting how

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Speaker 2: many we approve at any given point in time so

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Speaker 2: that there is some redundancy in the case of emergencies

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Speaker 2: where people just simply.

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Speaker 4: Have to go.

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Speaker 1: And so over the Christmas period, are you expecting that

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Speaker 1: there's going to be between twenty five and thirty five

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Speaker 1: percent of the workforce on lead.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that will be a normal trend line.

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Speaker 3: And you can juggle that, Yep.

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Speaker 2: Yep, we're planning for it. As I say, certainly for

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Speaker 2: somewhere in other springs. You can see how strategic we've

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Speaker 2: been in respects of our recruiting program. And when they're graduating,

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Speaker 2: it's not by mistake that they're graduating before Christmas, in

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Speaker 2: November and December. They're graduating so that there's always a

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Speaker 2: surge of fresh resources going into these places in advance

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Speaker 2: of those more significant pressure demand periods for us.

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Speaker 1: Is it a juggle then when you've got sort of

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Speaker 1: new officers coming on board, making sure that you've got

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Speaker 1: like a reasonable amount of experienced officers to be able

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Speaker 1: to show them the way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's an ongoing challenge. I mean, it goes

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Speaker 2: back to many years ago. We had to recruit accelerated

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Speaker 2: recruits from other police forces because we had a lack

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Speaker 2: of experience. And I think that a number of those

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Speaker 2: police officers who are still with us now we're recruited

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Speaker 2: some twenty years ago using that model. So the issue

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Speaker 2: of having junior staff is not a new one for

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory Police, but a fantastic police force to

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Speaker 2: learn the trade.

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Speaker 3: Now, Commissioner, we are fast running out of time.

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Speaker 1: But what impact do you think that the pay freeze

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Speaker 1: is having right now? I know that the Association has

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Speaker 1: launched a fairly scathing attack on the Northern Territory government

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Speaker 1: when it comes to the pay freeze. What impact do

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Speaker 1: you think it's having on offices at the moment.

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Speaker 4: Oh, there's little doubt.

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Speaker 2: I hear it from the offices that they don't feel valued,

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Speaker 2: and that's something that I keep talking to them about.

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Speaker 2: I've reassured them that I'm actively engaged with government and

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Speaker 2: with the Commissioner for Public Employment about what I think

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Speaker 2: is an appropriate funding model going forward and what also

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Speaker 2: looks like for our wage increase. I've kept them up

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Speaker 2: to date with the contemporary changes that have occurred in

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Speaker 2: the industrial environments of a number of other jurisdictions and

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Speaker 2: highlighted the fact that there's been significant growth of extra

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Speaker 2: police in many of those many jurisdictions on top of that.

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Speaker 1: So what do you reckon that funding model or what

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Speaker 1: do you think that that pay model could look look like?

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Speaker 4: It won't be insignificant.

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Speaker 2: I wouldn't think, but of course we've got allow that

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Speaker 2: process to go through. I can't talk specific figures. That's

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Speaker 2: obviously for the commissioner for publican placeant to engage with.

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Speaker 2: But I'm certainly doing all I recently can to make

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Speaker 2: sure that the discussion is well informed and reaches an

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Speaker 2: outcome sooner rather than later, so that again my people

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Speaker 2: can really rip into.

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Speaker 4: Twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 1: So from what you've said there, you do think that

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Speaker 1: they deserve a pay increase. You've spoken about that with

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Speaker 1: the commissioner, but also you can see that in other

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Speaker 1: states it's meant that they've been able to bolster their numbers.

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Speaker 2: Correct, My people have worked incredibly hard over the last

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Speaker 2: three years and you know their efforts have been very

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Speaker 2: very significant and the job of being what police officers

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Speaker 2: do frontline, but also my firefighters are going through eb

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 4: The work that they do is all incredible.

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Speaker 2: I think where we've been and certainly you know, reading

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Speaker 2: the play of where people want things to go, our

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Speaker 2: wage increases what people want and I think it's reasonable

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Speaker 2: to request it.

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Speaker 1: Police Commissioner, we are just about out of time. But

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Speaker 1: what is your message for territorians ahead of Christmas? Like

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Speaker 1: I said earlier. I know it's been a tumultuous year

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Speaker 1: to say the least, but what is your message for

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Speaker 1: Territorians for Christmas.

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Speaker 2: I don't think it's any great irony that we've just

403
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Speaker 2: been through a heat wave for an extended period across

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Speaker 2: the territory and it's probably fairly reflective of what twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty two has been. What we can hope for coming

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Speaker 2: into Christmas is that some of the sting goes out

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Speaker 2: of it, and we're doing a lot of operations across

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Speaker 2: the board to try and make sure that that happens.

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Speaker 2: But we really want to make sure that every Territorian

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Speaker 2: stays alive and looks after each other and is able

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Speaker 2: to enjoy their time with their loved ones. We know

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Speaker 2: there's going to be a lot of Territorians leaving the

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Speaker 2: territory already. A lot will go by air, but significantly

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Speaker 2: and number will go by road. We want people to

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Speaker 2: be really considered on the roads. Take care, take your time,

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Speaker 2: don't be in a rush. We really don't want to

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Speaker 2: be giving the worst message you can possibly give people

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Speaker 2: at Christmas time, so please stay safe. If you see police,

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Speaker 2: see firefighters out on the raid, our emergency services people.

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Speaker 2: Give them a wave, say thanks for twenty twenty two

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Speaker 2: and look forward to working with you in twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 1: Well Northern Territory Police Commissioner, Will Police, Fire and Emergency

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Speaker 1: Services Commissioner, appreciate your time. Thanks for the time that

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Speaker 1: you've given us throughout.

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Speaker 3: The year as well.

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Speaker 4: No worries. Thanks going great Christmas you too,