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Speaker 1: As we've been discussing nearly three hundred rural residents of

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Speaker 1: pack Day Community Hall to address concerns of crime in

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Speaker 1: the area. We heard from Keziapuric, who was at that meeting.

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Speaker 1: We've heard from the Northern Territory Police Minister. And now

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Speaker 1: for the police themselves, it is the Anti Police Commander

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Speaker 1: of Darwin and Road Police in Command, Matt Hollenby. Matt,

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Speaker 1: good morning.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Matt, and good morning to your listeners.

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Speaker 1: Well, I believe you had a couple of officers at

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Speaker 1: that meeting on Saturday. From a police perspective, how did

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Speaker 1: it go?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Matt, A couple of their officers did go. They

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Speaker 3: were senior officers from Palmerston. And yeah, there was obviously

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Speaker 3: a lot of angry residents in the rural area due

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Speaker 3: to a crime spike in that area. And yeah, they

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Speaker 3: vented their concerns and they vented them quite loudly in

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Speaker 3: some cases.

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Speaker 1: So it was quite fiery and confrontational at times. Was

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Speaker 1: that a difficult situation for those officers to face.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think it is.

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Speaker 3: But having said that, our role is to protect and

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Speaker 3: serve the community, and you know, they were there to

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Speaker 3: provide information and feedback to the community and to deliver

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Speaker 3: crime prevention messaging. So I think they did that quite well.

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Speaker 3: But having said that, we accept that there are some

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Speaker 3: rather upset people out in the rural area.

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Speaker 1: Residents are concerned about what they're describing as a perceived

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Speaker 1: crime wave in the area. We know on Friday the

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Speaker 1: latest crime statistics were released. Are you able to talk

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Speaker 1: us through some of those numbers when it comes to

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Speaker 1: crime in Darwines rural area.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, the crime statistics for the Northern Territory show

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Speaker 3: that property crime has gone down across the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: There are some regional variations and we're aware of There

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Speaker 3: was a regional spike in our springs which we developed

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Speaker 3: an operation to target that particular spike. There was some

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Speaker 3: youth issues in in Karama and Malac and we developed

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Speaker 3: an operation to address those issues. But overall, the crime

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Speaker 3: figures talk about what happened in the last twelve months

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Speaker 3: compared to what happened the twelve months before that, So

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Speaker 3: you know, in some cases it's old news and what

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Speaker 3: we really need to do is target the hero and

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Speaker 3: now and develop to identify crime spikes and deal with

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Speaker 3: them quickly.

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Speaker 1: There was an emphasis from police on Saturday on urging

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Speaker 1: residents to report any suspicious behavior. I saw some footage

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Speaker 1: where Kezi Epiric asked the room. They said, look, if

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Speaker 1: you've been a victim of crime and you haven't reported it,

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Speaker 1: pop your hand up, and there was a series of

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Speaker 1: hands that went up across the room. Based on the

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Speaker 1: fact that those latest crime statistics suggest that property crime

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Speaker 1: is down in some areas, is there a chance that

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Speaker 1: crime is being under reported?

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Speaker 2: Look, Matt, we can't investigate what we don't know about.

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Speaker 3: What I can say is that the number of thirty

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Speaker 3: odd crimes that have been reported or intos that have

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Speaker 3: been reported in the rural area, I think thirteen of

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Speaker 3: those a round law forul entries in the last couple

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Speaker 3: of months, and a lot of the others are unlocked

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Speaker 3: cars been opened and gone through and you know, five

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Speaker 3: dollars in coin, stolen, cigarette stolen off the back table,

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Speaker 3: you know, things of that nature. And yes, it's distressing

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Speaker 3: for the rural residents, but you know, the rural area

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Speaker 3: doesn't really experience a lot of crime at all, and

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Speaker 3: in recent months we've hardly had anything whatsoever in the

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Speaker 3: rural area. So you know, this is obviously very noticeable

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Speaker 3: to those residents.

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Speaker 1: And I guess that would be the frustrating thing. And

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Speaker 1: I think why there was so much anger and frustrating

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Speaker 1: frustration at this meeting on Saturdays, because traditionally the rural

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Speaker 1: area is quite a part of Darwin where people don't

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Speaker 1: expect this kind of behavior. So naturally, when we've seen

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Speaker 1: you know, quite a few incidents lately, I guess there

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Speaker 1: is a lot of anger and emotion in this topic

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Speaker 1: right now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, And again you know it's a recent crime spike

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Speaker 3: and we're you know, Strikeforce, Trident and Palmston and have

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Speaker 3: to do police for onto it.

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Speaker 1: The Anti News reports that some residents that that meeting

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Speaker 1: asked and I quote, can we shoot them? Can we

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Speaker 1: use our registered firearms? If we fear for our lives?

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Speaker 1: What is reasonable force to protect our families? Are you

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Speaker 1: worried when you hear language like that?

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Speaker 2: I think it's probably out of a sense of frustration.

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Speaker 3: But the important thing is that you ring the police,

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Speaker 3: and the police will respond as quickly as we can.

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Speaker 3: You know, you're entitled to defend yourself, but you know

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Speaker 3: there is reasonable and unreasonable force, and you know if

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Speaker 3: you need to use reasonable force to defend yourself or

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Speaker 3: your family.

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Speaker 2: So be it.

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Speaker 1: How do you describe that though? I guess it's so subjective,

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Speaker 1: isn't it?

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Speaker 3: Well, it is, But at the end of the day,

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Speaker 3: ringing the police is the is your first option, and

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Speaker 3: you know in an emergency, we'll get there pretty quickly.

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Speaker 1: We've had a couple of text come in this morning

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Speaker 1: asking the question for rural residents to have dogs on

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Speaker 1: their property, what happens if my dog gets a hold

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Speaker 1: of an offender on my property? What are the legalities

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Speaker 1: around that?

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Speaker 3: Look, you know, I'm not going to talk to all

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Speaker 3: of those circumstances, but you know, we get it. Nearly

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Speaker 3: everyone in the rural area's got dogs, and they bark,

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Speaker 3: and they're there for a purpose. So yeah, just as

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Speaker 3: long as you're you know, you're not using a dog

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Speaker 3: as a weapon. You know, we all have dogs for

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Speaker 3: our own individual reasons.

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Speaker 1: I spoke with the police minister a short time ago.

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Speaker 1: She said investigations are underway into a number of those

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Speaker 1: crime incidents reported in the rule area. Have you identified

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Speaker 1: any of those offenders at all? And will any arrests

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Speaker 1: and charges be made?

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Speaker 3: Look, I'm not going to go into individual investigations, but

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Speaker 3: I can say that you know, we're across what's going on,

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Speaker 3: and you know there has been thirteen on all ful entries,

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Speaker 3: and there has been a number of stealings, and you

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Speaker 3: know it's a it's a hot topic, as Karama was,

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Speaker 3: as Alice Springs was, and well we'll target that in

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Speaker 3: a proper way.

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Speaker 1: Are you worried we could see an increase in these

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Speaker 1: types of crimes, particularly property crimes, coming into the Christmas holidays.

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Speaker 3: Well, crime unfortunately does tend to go up over the

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Speaker 3: Christmas period, and sometimes January is the worst month because

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Speaker 3: you know, people go away and they get back and

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Speaker 3: find out something's been stolen from their property. So what

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Speaker 3: we'd really strongly encourage is to just take basic crime

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Speaker 3: prevention activities in your own place over the Christmas period.

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Speaker 3: If you're going away, take an extra step. You can

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Speaker 3: go to the Neighborhood Watch website that has some really

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Speaker 3: good tips.

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Speaker 2: But you know, the important thing is.

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Speaker 3: That you lock your doors, lock your cars, and for

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Speaker 3: goodness sake, please don't leave your car keys, or your

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Speaker 3: your walla do or your purse on the bench.

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Speaker 1: Just finally, Matt with your road Police in Command hat

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Speaker 1: on if we can. As I mentioned, you know, Christmas

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Speaker 1: holidays coming up. Watch your message for those traveling on

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Speaker 1: the roads this Christmas here.

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Speaker 3: Look, Christmas is a time of celebration and you know

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Speaker 3: we all like to have a drink at Christmas time,

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Speaker 3: not discouraging that, but what I am discouraging is driving

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Speaker 3: under the influence of alcoholic drugs. We will be in

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Speaker 3: force over the Christmas period and you know, if you

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Speaker 3: break the law, we'll make no apologies about taking action.

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Speaker 3: So be careful on the roads. Eleven people died in

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Speaker 3: the month of December last year on our roads, which

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Speaker 3: was really, really tragic and we certainly don't want to

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Speaker 3: repeat it that this year.

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Speaker 1: Will there be increased police presence with the likes of

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Speaker 1: RBTs and that kind of thing in the lead up

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Speaker 1: to Christmas?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, Look we're planning a series of large scale

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Speaker 3: random breath testing activities in the lead up and over

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Speaker 3: the whole Christmas holiday period that'll be supported by some

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Speaker 3: smaller ones. So you know, nearly fifty percent of our

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Speaker 3: fatal crashes on happen in the Nordon territory alcohol related.

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Speaker 3: So it is and it is a key causal factor.

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Speaker 3: And you know we make no apologies about targeting it.

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Speaker 1: Anti police Commander Matt Holland Hollandy from the Darwin and

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Speaker 1: Roade Policing Command, thank you so much for coming in

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Speaker 1: and answering some of those listeners questions this morning.

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Speaker 2: Always a pleasure