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Speaker 1: We know that the Northern Territory Police are calling for

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Speaker 1: information in relation to the assault of a twelve year

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Speaker 1: old girl that occurred on Sunday evening in Casurina. So

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Speaker 1: in a statement released yesterday, police said that the female

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Speaker 1: victim and her friend we're traveling on bus number four

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Speaker 1: from perap to Casurina when she was approached by a

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Speaker 1: female adult and allegedly assaulted. Now joining me in the

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Speaker 1: studio to tell us more about the situation is the

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Speaker 1: commander for the Darwin Region, Danny Bacon. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Kadie.

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Speaker 1: Now, Commander, firstly, can you tell us a little bit

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Speaker 1: more about how police became aware of this incident.

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Speaker 2: Well, please come aware of this incident through the contact

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Speaker 2: of transit officers and through that network, and obviously we've

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Speaker 2: responded in that capacity. So credit goes to certating the

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Speaker 2: transport officers and the local security at the bus exchange

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Speaker 2: of cash Arena. It's just an borran and disgusting attack

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Speaker 2: on a lady in our community, as you're aware, and

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Speaker 2: the organizations called out for any witnesses to the particular

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Speaker 2: matter itself as currently under investigation by our Serious Crime

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Speaker 2: unit and they're making active inquiries today in regards to

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Speaker 2: identifying and apprehending the set offenders.

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Speaker 1: So Danny just tell us, you know, essentially, what's happened here.

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Speaker 1: Has this twelve year old girl and her friend gotten

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Speaker 1: on the bus to go out to Casurina and what's unfolded?

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Speaker 2: It appears the attack was with unprovoked. It appears that

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Speaker 2: there was no relationship between the victim or the offenders,

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Speaker 2: and the actual assault has been unprovoked for this twelve

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Speaker 2: year old girl, which is obviously quite distressing and traumatic

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Speaker 2: for her. Obviously, through the intervention of the transport officers

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Speaker 2: and the security there lessened the assault at the exchange itself,

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Speaker 2: and that itself, I suppose has also assisted us and

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Speaker 2: our investigation. So we have a number of leads there

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Speaker 2: that we can follow up through on.

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Speaker 1: So was there any kind of exchange or altercation or

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Speaker 1: anything like that between this twelve year old and this

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Speaker 1: adult before been unfolded?

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Speaker 2: It appears not. But as I said, the matter is

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Speaker 2: under investigation at this junction of time until we get

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Speaker 2: to speak to all parties and other witnesses that come forward,

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Speaker 2: then we won't have a full picture of the circumstance

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Speaker 2: of events other than as has indicated. It's just a

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Speaker 2: borrent and disgusting act on a very young child on

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Speaker 2: on our bus network.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds that way like I've got a daughter

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Speaker 1: that's a little bit younger than twelve eleven and a half,

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Speaker 1: and I think that is shocking stuff. I find it

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Speaker 1: really pretty terrible that you know that they're not able

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Speaker 1: to get on a bus and go to Caserina, do

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Speaker 1: their you know, do some shopping or whatever they've gone

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Speaker 1: to do, hang out with their mates without something like

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Speaker 1: this happening. It's terrible. Can you tell me? Was she injured?

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Speaker 2: Yes, she was out of the hospital, a bruising number

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Speaker 2: of scratches. We go the assault itself, but there's also

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Speaker 2: some further medical inquiries are going on to see there's

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Speaker 2: anything perhaps a bit more significant that that's come out

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Speaker 2: of that assault itself.

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Speaker 1: And so then she's gotten off the bus. But then

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Speaker 1: they've had another crack when they've arrived at the at

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Speaker 1: the interchange.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and they said through the intervention of the transfit

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Speaker 2: of security, that assaults being desisted or stopped and the

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Speaker 2: offenders of the camp from there.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it wasn't that long ago that you and

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Speaker 1: I had spoken as well about that young boy that

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Speaker 1: a similar situation unfolded or it was different, but a

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Speaker 1: situation at the Casuarina interchange where young autistic fellaw who'd

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Speaker 1: been assaulted quite badly. I mean, it is like, it's shocking.

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Speaker 1: It must be bad even for you guys, for very

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Speaker 1: experienced police officers to be getting called about this kind

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Speaker 1: of thing.

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Speaker 2: I think any offense is particularly against a youth, is

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Speaker 2: a barrant any description whatsoever, and I'm sort of downplaying

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Speaker 2: that any sort of sense it all. But I really

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Speaker 2: reiterate to yourself and certainly the listeners itself. At violent

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Speaker 2: crime within the Greater day In area over the last

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Speaker 2: three months compared to the previous calendar year, I've actually

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Speaker 2: gone down ten percent. That's no condolences for the particular

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Speaker 2: victims of these significant crimes by any means. I certainly

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Speaker 2: don't mean to downplay that night, but certainly I'd like

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Speaker 2: to provide level of comfort to those victims and those

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Speaker 2: victims families that we will go utmost to make sure

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Speaker 2: that we hold these offenders to account and bring them

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Speaker 2: before court.

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Speaker 1: Commander, Can I just ask we know that we've seen

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Speaker 1: in recent in the recent few days. Obviously we've had

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Speaker 1: bus drivers taking action and calling for greater protection on busses.

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Speaker 1: That's a very separate issue from the Territory Police. Last Friday, though,

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Speaker 1: we heard from the watch commander that two transit officers

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Speaker 1: were spat at Do you think that we're seeing increased

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Speaker 1: incidents on buses and at those exchanges or is it

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Speaker 1: just that we've had a few quite prominent incidents.

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Speaker 2: I think you've just had a few quite prominent incidents

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Speaker 2: in a short period of time. Certainly, the overall trended

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Speaker 2: is not as increasing at all. Certainly we will wear

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Speaker 2: trends themselves, certainly at the bus exchanges predominantly Casherina and Palleerston,

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Speaker 2: and we work closely well daily with our transit officers

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Speaker 2: both in those peak periods of times, particularly before and

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Speaker 2: after school when there's greater attendance there. And we also

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Speaker 2: find the trends are particularly the later bus scheduling so

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Speaker 2: that the last bus leaving exchanged those sorts of things.

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Speaker 2: So we work in conjunction with the transit officers on

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Speaker 2: a daily basis with alcohol policing operations team, and likewise

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Speaker 2: I meet weekly with the management team of the transport

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Speaker 2: offices themselves and they collectively with other agencies themselves. We

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Speaker 2: look at those issues and trends itself, by and large,

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Speaker 2: youth seem to be the particular I suppose consume around

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Speaker 2: those bus exchanges. However, on the network itself predominantly some

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Speaker 2: of those offenses revolve around adults and intoxication al certain

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Speaker 2: alcohol as part of it.

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Speaker 1: It does sound though, as the as the transit officers,

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Speaker 1: you know, like from the early days obviously in terms

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Speaker 1: of them being able to operate in the way that

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Speaker 1: they are now able to, but it does sound as

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Speaker 1: though that's providing some assistance.

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Speaker 2: I can't speak wholly enough of the transport officers and

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Speaker 2: the work that they do. It's fantastic. As I said,

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Speaker 2: they're connected to us daily. We can respond quickly. There's

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Speaker 2: that direct contact, so we have a great working relationship.

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Speaker 2: As I said, we meet and discuss daily on wishes

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Speaker 2: and trends and where their pressure points are and where

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Speaker 2: our pressure points are. And they're collectively working together for us,

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Speaker 2: but also you know, across working with Laroche Nation, working

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Speaker 2: with Crown Lands, working with a range of other different

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Speaker 2: service providers to certainly assist in that area.

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Speaker 1: Commander, we are going to have to get ready to

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Speaker 1: wrap up, but I just want to ask very quickly.

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Speaker 1: We are due to catch up with the mother of

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Speaker 1: a young girl who had a rock hurled at her

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Speaker 1: over the weekend at a party in Palmerston as she

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Speaker 1: lays in hospital right now as a result of that.

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Speaker 1: From a police perspective, is there any update in terms of,

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Speaker 1: you know, the events that unfolded at that party.

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Speaker 2: I can't provide any specific update for that particular matter

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Speaker 2: other than the state Again, it's another a barrant act

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Speaker 2: a young member of our community that was not called

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Speaker 2: for it anyone innocent victim. So that matter is itself

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Speaker 2: is under investigation itself, and you would have seen a

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Speaker 2: lot of the footage within social media. We're just asking

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Speaker 2: people to actually, you know, supply that to police and

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Speaker 2: ford that to police and contact police so that will

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Speaker 2: assist us in our investigation and particularly uprehending that particular offender.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, come on to Danny Bacon. We really appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time this morning. Thanks so much for having a

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Speaker 1: chat with us this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you