Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
An announcement yesterday that the Northern Territory Police are going
to offer twenty thousand dollars in relocation bonuses in an
effort to recruit officers to the Northern Territory. Joining me
in the studio to tell us a little bit more
about the announcement is the Acting Police Commissioner Michael Murphy.
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good morning Katie, good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Thanks so much for your time this morning. Measure now,
Acting Commissioner, how will this work.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So at the moment, obviously, recruitment across Australia with law
enforcements very competitive. There's employment rates obviously post COVID at
challenging as well. We're quite lucky in the territory. We
still attract a cohort to fill our recruit squads. But
we want to want more police. We want more people
to come and join our ranks in the Northern Territory Police.
So to do that we need to be really competitive
(00:45):
and we need to offer more incentives. We're really handsomely
remunerated with salary. We've got free housing, either free housing
or housing alloune, which basically outweighs a lot of other
jurisdictions as well, which is quite attractive for the territory.
But to get people to the territory. Previously it was
about a five thousand to eight thousand dollars grant, which
sometimes is not enough for a person to relocate with
(01:05):
their family. So we're going to increase that to twenty
thousand dollars and we're exploring how that's going to look
because I'd rather get an invoice in rather than someone
being out of pocket because a young person or a
young couple might I'll be able to affworard fifteen thousand
dollars in a movement. So we want to work through
that process now. But basically that decision is effective immediately.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And I mean if it meant that somebody could move
from into state, or even could they move from somewhere
like New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Absolutely. We've just had a ten officers sworn in and
the accelerated recruit so officers that have served across law
enforcement in Australia New Zealand got sworn in a couple
of weeks ago. A few New Zealander is there.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, And you sort of think to yourself, you know,
if we can get people from other states or from
somewhere like New Zealand. Surely that would be a good thing,
and that twenty thousand dollars does seem to be It
seems to be generous, but it needs to be I
think at this point to try to entice people to
the Northern Territory rather than some of those other states.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah. Absolutely, like the different law enforcement, different lens, diversity
in thought, getting exposure that senior leadership from other experiences
across law enforcement, it's going to be really available to
the territory. Equally is having territorians apply for the job too,
So we usually have a pretty high number of Territorians
that get recruited. So I order all territorians you want
(02:21):
to join the police force, the fire service, the emergency service,
put an application in, come join the ranks and continue
to make a difference in the community safe.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Is there any kind of bonus for them? Then if
they're relocating, let's say from Alice Springs to Darwit, that
same applies.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So if they move. And obviously we're moving our posture
around recruitment for deployment out of the college. So historically
everyone out of the college went to Catherine Tenant and
allis the next squad graduating a nine June will do that.
They go twenty to Ours Springs as thirteen to Catherine
and two to Tenant Creek. Squad one fifty one will
be a mixed so the staff will the instructing staff
(02:54):
will talk to the crew there and probably look at
fifty percent into Darwin so he can put some more
resourcing to Darwin to increase policing operations here. The Squad
one fifty two is the accelerated recruits, So there's nine
Indolas Springs and one on Rain in Darwin. So that's
your senior officers from around other jurisdictions.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
And I know one of the other things that's been
raised previously is that for some of those new recruits,
having to spend that time out Bush could be seen
as a bit of a deterrent. Some people love going
out and love the idea of remote policing, but others
it might be a deterrent, particularly if it's somebody with
the young family. Let's say, are you looking at things
like that as well to maybe try to make it
(03:32):
more attractive for people to join the force.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Absolutely, I've spoken to people who wanted to apply for constable,
but they haven't because of that very reason. They've got
to consider spousal employment. They've got health needs for family
members and the education for young kids. So we need
to be flexible and we need to apply some thinking
to say, when's the right time for you to serve
the community in a remote location. It might be when
the kids are at a certain age before primary school,
(03:56):
it might be after they finished school. So I think
we can't be set in our thinking too much. We
need to be flexible with the workforce to say, you know,
we want people to go out Bush, we want people
to go and serve the northern territory, but there is
a time and a need that they need to remain
in Darwin too, look after their lives and their family
as well.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Absolutely. Now, previously on the show, the Chief Minister had
told us that there was a large number of officers
on leave. Now she'd said that that number was in
the hundreds. Commissioner, how many officers are on leave or
do you have an idea of that number and are
you making some efforts to get them back.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, so there's probably a couple of layers there. So
we've got any one time about between two hundred and
fifty and three hundred and fifty officers on recreational long
service leave. That's well deserved leave because their officers are
working tirelessly and very hard and they need a break.
We've obviously had a backlog from COVID as well, so
we're actually allowing people to take their leave so they
(04:50):
can actually do some of the travel they had canceled
during COVID. A lot of leave was canceled because of
the demand on the police force, were border controls and
other operations during COVID meeting normal police demand. So on
top of that, we've got over one hundred officers who
are on long leave, which is an access to sick leave,
which is either could be psychological or physical injury. So
(05:13):
there's a list being managed through the executive so contacts
made with them and the most appropriate way. Some of
those officers won't be returning. They just can't come back
to policing. Some will through rehabilitation and that physical side,
but there's work underway to try and get people back
to work that we can. In that cohord of over
one hundred. We're going to announce the well baying strategy
(05:36):
this month. We've had some significant work in our well
Banning strategy. It's about promoting, supporting, protecting our people right
through from recruitment stage, through the workforce and actually transitioning
out of policing. So if someone can't be a police
officer for the trauma they've seen through their servers, then
we can support them in a pathway to go to
another form of employment right their CV. We work with
(05:58):
Fordham Australia as well, incredible work. So we're really investing
in the well being strategy. So that will be announced
in Dawen next week and then other springs on the
twenty fourth.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
And is there a bit of room for flexibility there?
I mean for some of those hundred people that are
on long leave, particularly if it's maybe for mental health
reasons or there's certain elements of the job that you know,
I don't know. But let's say somebody has been a
traffic officer and they've seen some extreme trauma, or somebody's
worked in the area of domestic violence. Could there be
an opportunity for their role to be modified or for
(06:30):
them to change their job so that you're able to
get that experience and get them back into the force
but be utilized in a different way.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Absolutely, so if there's certain harms and you're right, we
see lots of trauma road policing. Last year we saw
fifty two road deaths, twelve were pedestrians. You know, we've
seen an average of forty people die on the roads
in across the territory, which is a huge number of
people for a small population, and up to five hundred
serious crash injuries. This week is National Road Safety Week,
(07:00):
so it's a really important reminder to all road users
to take care on the roads, adhere to the you
know what the fatal five are. Make sure your vehicle safe,
make sure you drive to conditions, make sure you're not
affected by any substances. Don't be distracted through your mobile phone,
don't speed, were your seat belt, all the really fundamental
basics to drive to survive. So people that see trauma
(07:22):
police officer at sea trauma, it may not impact them
straight away. It could be a number of issues. It
could be the domestic violence, it could be infant death.
But you know, we have a responsibility as an employer
to make sure we look after and care for our
people and place him in a location that they can
be supported on a return to work.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Now, on that I mean between two hundred and fifty
obviously on long service and recreational leave, one hundred on
long leave. It's a big number for you to be
juggling in terms of keeping your workforce agile and making
sure that there are enough police officers on the streets
to sort of meet the demand that all the community's expectations.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah. Absolutely, and that comes down to the management teams.
So there are thresholds in place about how many ranks
and how many officers can be away in command. So
it's not like there's two hundred away from Darwin. It's
equally spread across all the commands across the territory, so
it's managed so we've always got their response capability across
in Oldthern territory.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Now, my understanding is that there are some officers who've
maybe been on discipline re leave as well. I'm not
expecting you to go into any detail on that, but
are you looking at bringing any of those people back.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, that's a conversation. I've actually spoken to Lisa Balas today.
So there are officers that are subjected to directed leave
or maybe suspended. So we're working through getting more tribunal
chairs appointed so we can move through some of these
that have been maybe delayed or a bit long. So
we want to get officers back on deck to do
their job, what they want to do, what they're employed
(08:42):
to do. So it is. And the other thing we're
doing is a discipline review, So we want to move
from a disciplinary framework, a punitive sort of direction, to
a performance management one. When there is serious breaches of
discipline or criminal acts, that's a different consideration. But there's
a lot, a lot of the probably dispar reactions that
could be moved into performance management and that well being space.
(09:05):
So it's a bit a change in direction, a bit
of change in thinking, but that's a work in progress
at the moment.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Now let's talk about those issues that we're facing around
the Northern Territory. Around crime. It has become a massive
concern for a lot of territorians. I know that, you
know that, and certainly it's not a point that's lost
on our police officers who have to go out to
those incidents every single day. But there has been four
stabbings this year, those four lives lost. Last week we
(09:30):
had twenty nine cars stolen and more than thirty break ins.
Massive concerns of course around domestic violence. There are a
lot of issues that the Northern Territory Police are dealing with.
What's your biggest priorities as the acting Police Commissioner Because
a lot of people have felt that that community safety
has been lost and their sense of safety on the
(09:52):
streets or going about their daily lives has been lost.
So I guess what reassurance can you sort of give
the Northern Territory community that do you hit the ground
running and what are your priorities?
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I think the main priority is a safe Northern Territory
and looking after the citizens and suppressing crime and holding
those people accountable for committing crime to the court. Hit
the nail on the head. Our police officers work tirelessly
and very hard. We are part of the community. When
we see people get hurt or killed, or their house
is broken into, or their second largest that' set being
(10:24):
their motivehicle stolen, that hurts us. So we do everything
we can. We've got our detectives working hard. We see
the results from Viper and tried it. We've seen the
swift results overnight from Alice Springs and the style of
motor vehicle through the use of drones, using smarter techniques,
policing techniques to detect, defending, prevent it and actually action
it and arrest people who are responsible and put them
(10:47):
before the court. The courts are very busy, you know.
We're consistently working with Matt Valley to work through their
correctional space as well, because there's a lot of people
being remanded under the new provisions of the law with
the knives and the edge and the harm to community.
So we'll do everything we can. So the main thing
is is keeping the community safe, listening to what the
community needs and understanding what the problem is and addressing it.
(11:09):
Not just as a policing agency like we will always
enforce on law and arrest people who do the wrong thing.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
And it actually sounds as though as well some of
those staffing issues if you can get to the bottom
of those and make sure that you've got enough police
on the ground doing their job, that that will help also.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah, absolutely. And the other aspect we're looking at is,
you know, we've talked about the separations across the Northern
Terretiary Police of around four hundred. It's a really high
attrition rate in the last three years. So I'm asking
for those officers who want to return to the Northern
Territory Police to come back to our ranks. Let us
know if you're interested. I'm working with the association now
about being flexible about reappointing to certain ranks without disenfranchising
(11:49):
or not allowing obviously opportunity for those officers in our
ranks that are going to be sergeants and senior sergeants
and superintendent. So we're just working through that at the moment.
But to bring someone who's only left twelve months ago
as a senior sergeant back into the ranks as critical
for leadership. They've got a wealth of knowledge, We've invested
and then we've trained them. They've been outside the force.
(12:10):
We want them to come back. We want constables to
come back. So we're just extending an imitation. If you're
interested in coming back to the Northern Churchy Police, please
let us know.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah. Look, I think that there probably are some listening
this morning who might think to themselves that you know
definitely are Yeah, you sound as though you are making
sure that that work is getting underway to try and
bring some of those people back, which I hope is
a good thing. Now, I just want to talk about
some of these young gangs that we seem to have
around the place at the moment, some of them sharing
this information on social media. I don't actually want to
(12:38):
name them because I don't think that they deserve that
kind of notoriety or publicity. But we know, I think
most of us know the group that I'm talking about.
What work are the police undertaking to get control of
those people who seem to sort of have no respect
for anyone in the community all their property at the moment.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So there's obviously a lot of engagement too. And some
of these young people are in community in Doe and
they're also in communities outside of Dowen. Our remote police
are working tirelessly to monitor, target manage. Some are on bail.
We've locked up at least ten people responsible with some
of the vehicle thefts that are in custody, so we're
(13:16):
managing that network. And obviously in some of these cohorts
we see there might be a person well known to
police and there might be four followers, So we need
to intervene with the followers to correct their behavior and
get them back out of the thinking about crimes. Okay,
but I think the bigger picture rests with other government
departments as well, like education and that purpose in community
(13:37):
because if they're bored, they're looking for something to do,
they go steal a car and they come and say,
let's get in a pursuit with police. Really dangerous activity
and they brag about it on social media, which just
manifests into one upmanship, not just solely in the territory
but across Northern Australia.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Now what about like if you see honestly some of
the stuff that gets shared on TikTok and that that
even you know, our our own kids are saying that
these people are sharing. If they see that kind of stuff,
obviously reporting it because it's criminal behavior. But do we
need to get in contact with the Northern Territory Police
if we're seeing posts where people are going, oh, I'm
going on a bend or I'm going to be stealing
cars tonight.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah, absolutely, that's really good for our intelligence holdings and actions.
So we had that very specific across the weekend where
we know the origin of the message and then we
can target it and do the prevention and disruption. There's
also the e Safety Commissioner, So when there's harmful content
published that may involve children, you can report directly to
the Safety Commissioner. But if you report to us, we've
(14:33):
got some We've got some contacts as well, So the
e Safety Commissioner can compel certain social media sites to
take down material if it's halpful to the public.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Now, this discussion around knives and edged weapons, we know
that there has been talk about those wands that are
being used in places like Queensland. You raised this last week.
Where are these discussions at Okay?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
So at the moment, the report's being finalized for me
to assess and review. So we two officers travel to
Brisbane and engage with the Queensland Police to understand how
they operate, the intent, the legislation, the policy setting, the equipment.
So they've come back and applying that to the Northern territory,
thinking about how we can apply that across the territory.
(15:16):
What we saw in Queensland it was a two year pilot.
I've spoken to the Deputy commission over there. It was
a success. They've just implemented into the legislation as a
permanent procedure really in party precincts and high harm activity areas,
which has seen a downturn in presentation of edge weapons,
So it's actually been a disruptor rather than an arrestor.
So the people know that they can't go into certain
(15:38):
areas because I know police will target them or wan
them to detect if they've got some sort of concealed weapon.
So it's actually making a safer environment, which is really
a really good outcome. So we want to apply that
thinking the territory.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
So is it something that we need legislative change for
or is it something that you could do, like we
could do a bit of a trial for.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Well, at this stage there'll have to be some legistim Yeah,
and I've spoken to the minister. There's an appetite to
explore this further, so I'll just wait for my brief
then I'll engage with the Police Minister and we'll go
from there.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Well, I've got to say, Acting Commissioner, it sounds as
though you have certainly hit the ground running. What would
like what would you say your main priorities are going
to be over the next well period of time. I
guess that whole recruitment process is underway and we don't
know who the next Northern Territory Police Commissioner is, but
I know that you have put your hand up and
you have certainly hit the ground running. What are your
(16:31):
main priorities at this.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Point addressing crime issues across the Northern Territory. I'm looking
at obviously proactive measures to make sure territorians are and
feel safe, uniting a police force and uniting a community
with the police force to make a difference, continue to
look at new ideas to basically we need to change
the dynamic in the territory from what we're living and
(16:55):
feeling at the moment. Because people are concerned, so we
need to where leaders in this field we can make
a difference, and we will make a difference.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Well, I really appreciate your time this morning, and I've
got to say, you know, over recent weeks and months,
there has been a lot of us feeling pretty broken hearted.
I think you'd have to say about the way that
the territory is and some of the crime issues that
we've seen. But you have certainly given us a bit
of hope this morning, I think. So. I appreciate your
time and really appreciate you coming in and taking the
time to answer all those those questions. But before I
(17:24):
let you go, I can't not mention that it is
where orange Wednesday as well. I've got a bit of
orange on. You've got to have your uniform on, of course,
but you have got orange on the uniform of course.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Oh that's great. Look. It's a big shout out to
all our volunteers who you know National Volunteer Week as well,
but a big shout out to our Northern Territory Fire
and Emergency Services. We've got five hundred volunteers who work tirelessly,
give up their own time effort to make the community
say for and respond when people need help.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
So well done, good on you, good stuff. Thanks so
much for your time this morning. The Acting Police Commissioner,
Michael Murphy
An announcement yesterday that the Northern Territory Police are going
to offer twenty thousand dollars in relocation bonuses in an
effort to recruit officers to the Northern Territory. Joining me
in the studio to tell us a little bit more
about the announcement is the Acting Police Commissioner Michael Murphy.
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good morning Katie, good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Thanks so much for your time this morning. Measure now,
Acting Commissioner, how will this work.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So at the moment, obviously, recruitment across Australia with law
enforcements very competitive. There's employment rates obviously post COVID at
challenging as well. We're quite lucky in the territory. We
still attract a cohort to fill our recruit squads. But
we want to want more police. We want more people
to come and join our ranks in the Northern Territory Police.
So to do that we need to be really competitive
(00:45):
and we need to offer more incentives. We're really handsomely
remunerated with salary. We've got free housing, either free housing
or housing alloune, which basically outweighs a lot of other
jurisdictions as well, which is quite attractive for the territory.
But to get people to the territory. Previously it was
about a five thousand to eight thousand dollars grant, which
sometimes is not enough for a person to relocate with
(01:05):
their family. So we're going to increase that to twenty
thousand dollars and we're exploring how that's going to look
because I'd rather get an invoice in rather than someone
being out of pocket because a young person or a
young couple might I'll be able to affworard fifteen thousand
dollars in a movement. So we want to work through
that process now. But basically that decision is effective immediately.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And I mean if it meant that somebody could move
from into state, or even could they move from somewhere
like New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Absolutely. We've just had a ten officers sworn in and
the accelerated recruit so officers that have served across law
enforcement in Australia New Zealand got sworn in a couple
of weeks ago. A few New Zealander is there.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, And you sort of think to yourself, you know,
if we can get people from other states or from
somewhere like New Zealand. Surely that would be a good thing,
and that twenty thousand dollars does seem to be It
seems to be generous, but it needs to be I
think at this point to try to entice people to
the Northern Territory rather than some of those other states.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah. Absolutely, like the different law enforcement, different lens, diversity
in thought, getting exposure that senior leadership from other experiences
across law enforcement, it's going to be really available to
the territory. Equally is having territorians apply for the job too,
So we usually have a pretty high number of Territorians
that get recruited. So I order all territorians you want
(02:21):
to join the police force, the fire service, the emergency service,
put an application in, come join the ranks and continue
to make a difference in the community safe.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Is there any kind of bonus for them? Then if
they're relocating, let's say from Alice Springs to Darwit, that
same applies.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So if they move. And obviously we're moving our posture
around recruitment for deployment out of the college. So historically
everyone out of the college went to Catherine Tenant and
allis the next squad graduating a nine June will do that.
They go twenty to Ours Springs as thirteen to Catherine
and two to Tenant Creek. Squad one fifty one will
be a mixed so the staff will the instructing staff
(02:54):
will talk to the crew there and probably look at
fifty percent into Darwin so he can put some more
resourcing to Darwin to increase policing operations here. The Squad
one fifty two is the accelerated recruits, So there's nine
Indolas Springs and one on Rain in Darwin. So that's
your senior officers from around other jurisdictions.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
And I know one of the other things that's been
raised previously is that for some of those new recruits,
having to spend that time out Bush could be seen
as a bit of a deterrent. Some people love going
out and love the idea of remote policing, but others
it might be a deterrent, particularly if it's somebody with
the young family. Let's say, are you looking at things
like that as well to maybe try to make it
(03:32):
more attractive for people to join the force.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Absolutely, I've spoken to people who wanted to apply for constable,
but they haven't because of that very reason. They've got
to consider spousal employment. They've got health needs for family
members and the education for young kids. So we need
to be flexible and we need to apply some thinking
to say, when's the right time for you to serve
the community in a remote location. It might be when
the kids are at a certain age before primary school,
(03:56):
it might be after they finished school. So I think
we can't be set in our thinking too much. We
need to be flexible with the workforce to say, you know,
we want people to go out Bush, we want people
to go and serve the northern territory, but there is
a time and a need that they need to remain
in Darwin too, look after their lives and their family
as well.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Absolutely. Now, previously on the show, the Chief Minister had
told us that there was a large number of officers
on leave. Now she'd said that that number was in
the hundreds. Commissioner, how many officers are on leave or
do you have an idea of that number and are
you making some efforts to get them back.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, so there's probably a couple of layers there. So
we've got any one time about between two hundred and
fifty and three hundred and fifty officers on recreational long
service leave. That's well deserved leave because their officers are
working tirelessly and very hard and they need a break.
We've obviously had a backlog from COVID as well, so
we're actually allowing people to take their leave so they
(04:50):
can actually do some of the travel they had canceled
during COVID. A lot of leave was canceled because of
the demand on the police force, were border controls and
other operations during COVID meeting normal police demand. So on
top of that, we've got over one hundred officers who
are on long leave, which is an access to sick leave,
which is either could be psychological or physical injury. So
(05:13):
there's a list being managed through the executive so contacts
made with them and the most appropriate way. Some of
those officers won't be returning. They just can't come back
to policing. Some will through rehabilitation and that physical side,
but there's work underway to try and get people back
to work that we can. In that cohord of over
one hundred. We're going to announce the well baying strategy
(05:36):
this month. We've had some significant work in our well
Banning strategy. It's about promoting, supporting, protecting our people right
through from recruitment stage, through the workforce and actually transitioning
out of policing. So if someone can't be a police
officer for the trauma they've seen through their servers, then
we can support them in a pathway to go to
another form of employment right their CV. We work with
(05:58):
Fordham Australia as well, incredible work. So we're really investing
in the well being strategy. So that will be announced
in Dawen next week and then other springs on the
twenty fourth.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
And is there a bit of room for flexibility there?
I mean for some of those hundred people that are
on long leave, particularly if it's maybe for mental health
reasons or there's certain elements of the job that you know,
I don't know. But let's say somebody has been a
traffic officer and they've seen some extreme trauma, or somebody's
worked in the area of domestic violence. Could there be
an opportunity for their role to be modified or for
(06:30):
them to change their job so that you're able to
get that experience and get them back into the force
but be utilized in a different way.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Absolutely, so if there's certain harms and you're right, we
see lots of trauma road policing. Last year we saw
fifty two road deaths, twelve were pedestrians. You know, we've
seen an average of forty people die on the roads
in across the territory, which is a huge number of
people for a small population, and up to five hundred
serious crash injuries. This week is National Road Safety Week,
(07:00):
so it's a really important reminder to all road users
to take care on the roads, adhere to the you
know what the fatal five are. Make sure your vehicle safe,
make sure you drive to conditions, make sure you're not
affected by any substances. Don't be distracted through your mobile phone,
don't speed, were your seat belt, all the really fundamental
basics to drive to survive. So people that see trauma
(07:22):
police officer at sea trauma, it may not impact them
straight away. It could be a number of issues. It
could be the domestic violence, it could be infant death.
But you know, we have a responsibility as an employer
to make sure we look after and care for our
people and place him in a location that they can
be supported on a return to work.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Now, on that I mean between two hundred and fifty
obviously on long service and recreational leave, one hundred on
long leave. It's a big number for you to be
juggling in terms of keeping your workforce agile and making
sure that there are enough police officers on the streets
to sort of meet the demand that all the community's expectations.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah. Absolutely, and that comes down to the management teams.
So there are thresholds in place about how many ranks
and how many officers can be away in command. So
it's not like there's two hundred away from Darwin. It's
equally spread across all the commands across the territory, so
it's managed so we've always got their response capability across
in Oldthern territory.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Now, my understanding is that there are some officers who've
maybe been on discipline re leave as well. I'm not
expecting you to go into any detail on that, but
are you looking at bringing any of those people back.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, that's a conversation. I've actually spoken to Lisa Balas today.
So there are officers that are subjected to directed leave
or maybe suspended. So we're working through getting more tribunal
chairs appointed so we can move through some of these
that have been maybe delayed or a bit long. So
we want to get officers back on deck to do
their job, what they want to do, what they're employed
(08:42):
to do. So it is. And the other thing we're
doing is a discipline review, So we want to move
from a disciplinary framework, a punitive sort of direction, to
a performance management one. When there is serious breaches of
discipline or criminal acts, that's a different consideration. But there's
a lot, a lot of the probably dispar reactions that
could be moved into performance management and that well being space.
(09:05):
So it's a bit a change in direction, a bit
of change in thinking, but that's a work in progress
at the moment.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Now let's talk about those issues that we're facing around
the Northern Territory. Around crime. It has become a massive
concern for a lot of territorians. I know that, you
know that, and certainly it's not a point that's lost
on our police officers who have to go out to
those incidents every single day. But there has been four
stabbings this year, those four lives lost. Last week we
(09:30):
had twenty nine cars stolen and more than thirty break ins.
Massive concerns of course around domestic violence. There are a
lot of issues that the Northern Territory Police are dealing with.
What's your biggest priorities as the acting Police Commissioner Because
a lot of people have felt that that community safety
has been lost and their sense of safety on the
(09:52):
streets or going about their daily lives has been lost.
So I guess what reassurance can you sort of give
the Northern Territory community that do you hit the ground
running and what are your priorities?
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I think the main priority is a safe Northern Territory
and looking after the citizens and suppressing crime and holding
those people accountable for committing crime to the court. Hit
the nail on the head. Our police officers work tirelessly
and very hard. We are part of the community. When
we see people get hurt or killed, or their house
is broken into, or their second largest that' set being
(10:24):
their motivehicle stolen, that hurts us. So we do everything
we can. We've got our detectives working hard. We see
the results from Viper and tried it. We've seen the
swift results overnight from Alice Springs and the style of
motor vehicle through the use of drones, using smarter techniques,
policing techniques to detect, defending, prevent it and actually action
it and arrest people who are responsible and put them
(10:47):
before the court. The courts are very busy, you know.
We're consistently working with Matt Valley to work through their
correctional space as well, because there's a lot of people
being remanded under the new provisions of the law with
the knives and the edge and the harm to community.
So we'll do everything we can. So the main thing
is is keeping the community safe, listening to what the
community needs and understanding what the problem is and addressing it.
(11:09):
Not just as a policing agency like we will always
enforce on law and arrest people who do the wrong thing.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
And it actually sounds as though as well some of
those staffing issues if you can get to the bottom
of those and make sure that you've got enough police
on the ground doing their job, that that will help also.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah, absolutely. And the other aspect we're looking at is,
you know, we've talked about the separations across the Northern
Terretiary Police of around four hundred. It's a really high
attrition rate in the last three years. So I'm asking
for those officers who want to return to the Northern
Territory Police to come back to our ranks. Let us
know if you're interested. I'm working with the association now
about being flexible about reappointing to certain ranks without disenfranchising
(11:49):
or not allowing obviously opportunity for those officers in our
ranks that are going to be sergeants and senior sergeants
and superintendent. So we're just working through that at the moment.
But to bring someone who's only left twelve months ago
as a senior sergeant back into the ranks as critical
for leadership. They've got a wealth of knowledge, We've invested
and then we've trained them. They've been outside the force.
(12:10):
We want them to come back. We want constables to
come back. So we're just extending an imitation. If you're
interested in coming back to the Northern Churchy Police, please
let us know.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah. Look, I think that there probably are some listening
this morning who might think to themselves that you know
definitely are Yeah, you sound as though you are making
sure that that work is getting underway to try and
bring some of those people back, which I hope is
a good thing. Now, I just want to talk about
some of these young gangs that we seem to have
around the place at the moment, some of them sharing
this information on social media. I don't actually want to
(12:38):
name them because I don't think that they deserve that
kind of notoriety or publicity. But we know, I think
most of us know the group that I'm talking about.
What work are the police undertaking to get control of
those people who seem to sort of have no respect
for anyone in the community all their property at the moment.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So there's obviously a lot of engagement too. And some
of these young people are in community in Doe and
they're also in communities outside of Dowen. Our remote police
are working tirelessly to monitor, target manage. Some are on bail.
We've locked up at least ten people responsible with some
of the vehicle thefts that are in custody, so we're
(13:16):
managing that network. And obviously in some of these cohorts
we see there might be a person well known to
police and there might be four followers, So we need
to intervene with the followers to correct their behavior and
get them back out of the thinking about crimes. Okay,
but I think the bigger picture rests with other government
departments as well, like education and that purpose in community
(13:37):
because if they're bored, they're looking for something to do,
they go steal a car and they come and say,
let's get in a pursuit with police. Really dangerous activity
and they brag about it on social media, which just
manifests into one upmanship, not just solely in the territory
but across Northern Australia.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Now what about like if you see honestly some of
the stuff that gets shared on TikTok and that that
even you know, our our own kids are saying that
these people are sharing. If they see that kind of stuff,
obviously reporting it because it's criminal behavior. But do we
need to get in contact with the Northern Territory Police
if we're seeing posts where people are going, oh, I'm
going on a bend or I'm going to be stealing
cars tonight.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah, absolutely, that's really good for our intelligence holdings and actions.
So we had that very specific across the weekend where
we know the origin of the message and then we
can target it and do the prevention and disruption. There's
also the e Safety Commissioner, So when there's harmful content
published that may involve children, you can report directly to
the Safety Commissioner. But if you report to us, we've
(14:33):
got some We've got some contacts as well, So the
e Safety Commissioner can compel certain social media sites to
take down material if it's halpful to the public.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Now, this discussion around knives and edged weapons, we know
that there has been talk about those wands that are
being used in places like Queensland. You raised this last week.
Where are these discussions at Okay?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
So at the moment, the report's being finalized for me
to assess and review. So we two officers travel to
Brisbane and engage with the Queensland Police to understand how
they operate, the intent, the legislation, the policy setting, the equipment.
So they've come back and applying that to the Northern territory,
thinking about how we can apply that across the territory.
(15:16):
What we saw in Queensland it was a two year pilot.
I've spoken to the Deputy commission over there. It was
a success. They've just implemented into the legislation as a
permanent procedure really in party precincts and high harm activity areas,
which has seen a downturn in presentation of edge weapons,
So it's actually been a disruptor rather than an arrestor.
So the people know that they can't go into certain
(15:38):
areas because I know police will target them or wan
them to detect if they've got some sort of concealed weapon.
So it's actually making a safer environment, which is really
a really good outcome. So we want to apply that
thinking the territory.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
So is it something that we need legislative change for
or is it something that you could do, like we
could do a bit of a trial for.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Well, at this stage there'll have to be some legistim Yeah,
and I've spoken to the minister. There's an appetite to
explore this further, so I'll just wait for my brief
then I'll engage with the Police Minister and we'll go
from there.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Well, I've got to say, Acting Commissioner, it sounds as
though you have certainly hit the ground running. What would
like what would you say your main priorities are going
to be over the next well period of time. I
guess that whole recruitment process is underway and we don't
know who the next Northern Territory Police Commissioner is, but
I know that you have put your hand up and
you have certainly hit the ground running. What are your
(16:31):
main priorities at this.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Point addressing crime issues across the Northern Territory. I'm looking
at obviously proactive measures to make sure territorians are and
feel safe, uniting a police force and uniting a community
with the police force to make a difference, continue to
look at new ideas to basically we need to change
the dynamic in the territory from what we're living and
(16:55):
feeling at the moment. Because people are concerned, so we
need to where leaders in this field we can make
a difference, and we will make a difference.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Well, I really appreciate your time this morning, and I've
got to say, you know, over recent weeks and months,
there has been a lot of us feeling pretty broken hearted.
I think you'd have to say about the way that
the territory is and some of the crime issues that
we've seen. But you have certainly given us a bit
of hope this morning, I think. So. I appreciate your
time and really appreciate you coming in and taking the
time to answer all those those questions. But before I
(17:24):
let you go, I can't not mention that it is
where orange Wednesday as well. I've got a bit of
orange on. You've got to have your uniform on, of course,
but you have got orange on the uniform of course.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Oh that's great. Look. It's a big shout out to
all our volunteers who you know National Volunteer Week as well,
but a big shout out to our Northern Territory Fire
and Emergency Services. We've got five hundred volunteers who work tirelessly,
give up their own time effort to make the community
say for and respond when people need help.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
So well done, good on you, good stuff. Thanks so
much for your time this morning. The Acting Police Commissioner,
Michael Murphy
Popular Podcasts
Boysober
Have you ever wondered what life might be like if you stopped worrying about being wanted, and focused on understanding what you actually want? That was the question Hope Woodard asked herself after a string of situationships inspired her to take a break from sex and dating. She went "boysober," a personal concept that sparked a global movement among women looking to prioritize themselves over men. Now, Hope is looking to expand the ways we explore our relationship to relationships. Taking a bold, unfiltered look into modern love, romance, and self-discovery, Boysober will dive into messy stories about dating, sex, love, friendship, and breaking generational patterns—all with humor, vulnerability, and a fresh perspective.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com