November 25, 2025 • 15 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining me in the studio right now from the Northern
Territory Police and is he Acting Assistant Commissioner James O'Brien.
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good morning Katie, Good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Now, last time we spoke to you, it was on Friday,
I think it was as we were leading into cyclone Fena.
How did you guys go over the weekends?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Really good?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
You know, we were really into the swing of that
response phase for the cyclone, and I can understand that
the entire community, not just here in Darwin, but also
across the Tiwi Islands all the way to Mingelang and
warr We everybody was bunkering down and that we're really
worried because it was a tropical cyclone category through and
the winds were expected to reach over two hundred and
(00:42):
five kilometers an hour. I think, and I think, as
I said in one of my interviews, it definitely threaded
the eye of the needle, you know, just glancing Darwin
and just glancing a.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Little bit more.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I suppose of worrying Anger who probably copped the brunt,
who I believe have got ninety five percent of their
power restored, which is fantastic that's a really fantastic recovery
effort over there by the locals as well as power
and water, So congratulate them on that. But I do
understand that a lot of the community have got a
lot of concerns.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
You know, I'm hearing the.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Discussions about waste management and when power coming back on
and all those sorts of things. So there are all
those things that for me as the Northern Region Controller,
you know, the overarching sort of person that was running
at day to day for the territory controller, those things
stand front and center of mind to me about you know,
improvements for next time, how we could maybe improve some things.
(01:33):
You know, there's nothing major because we've been through it
a lot of times, but what is it there that
we can do to reassure the community a little bit more?
Is it our messaging, is it doing things a little
bit differently here and there. So, yeah, we'll definitely review
those things.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I reckon it's a good point to make because that
has been a little bit of the criticism is that
maybe some of the communication could have been slightly better
pre like there was a people on Friday going you know,
should schools have been sort of notified a little bit earlier.
What the go was Friday morning. I know it's tough
because there's so much going on at that point in time,
but then even on Monday mornings, some people saying, well,
(02:07):
should the schools have opened on Monday or should we
have maybe had one additional day to let those schools
clean up all their debris, etc. So it's a tough one,
but I think that is a really important point to
make that a review does happen and you go all right, well,
how can we potentially do things maybe a little bit
better or a little bit differently next time if needed?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Absolutely, Caatie and that's definitely something that we will do.
And I can assure your listeners that throughout that whole
response phase, I was in very close contact with Kirston Engles,
that Superintendent Kurston Engles, who was the incident controller, and
we were talking a lot about the media messaging and
what we could put out there. But the first for
that messaging, the first by the community, was so great that,
(02:50):
like I say, I think, I think we just look
at a little bit more. I've already proposed some things
for next time, but let's just see what that internal
review comes out with. We have to do it legislatively,
so let's just see what that comes out with to
try and make improvements. I do know we improve from
Marcus absolutely, so every time we will improve and look.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
At those things.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
How you touched on the Tei Islands a moment ago.
How is everybody on the tew Wii Islands going at
the moment? I know that you know, they probably copped
it worse than us. Are they all faring okay at
this point?
Speaker 3 (03:21):
So the communication I've had back, and especially from my
local area controller that the OIC, the police station over there,
is that yes, they're very good. They're in high spirits.
I did hear some media as well from locals saying.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
We've been through this before. You know, we're prepared, We're ready.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
So I feel for them having power out for so long,
but I think that they were fairly well prepared. And
I will travel over there at some point in the
coming months just to visit everybody and make sure. And
I know that others have been over there already, but
I will go over there at some.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Point and just make sure that the islands themselves are good.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, and absolutely something that you know, we all hope
that they're going to be okay. Gee, it's been good
to see like the community wrap around each other and
help each other out, isn't it? Like I Dave tole
To pop over to my house Sunday morning with a chainsaw,
you know. Then I rocked up home a couple of
days later and my husband's outside with one of our
other mates, you know, getting rid of more tree branches.
(04:17):
Yesterday we had one of our senior listeners get in
contact with us and say she couldn't get rid of
some of the greenways. We have one of our other listeners,
you know, come forward by the end of the day
to go and help her.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
It's so nice, it's so good.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
It's that it's it's that Australian spirit, isn't it. And
I think you see it in emergency situations across the
country really. You know, we've had bushfires, we've had flooding
all the way through you know, Southeast Queensland and New
South Wales and Victoria and in other place as well.
And so it doesn't change here for the territory, right
we get a cyclone and we all chip in. We
see a neighbor you know that may have a problem.
(04:53):
When we're always out there trying to help one of
our regulator, right.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I totally agree.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Hey, one of our listeners got in contact with us,
I think it was yesterday or the day before as well,
and said that they'd had like five trg go out.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
And help them.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
I don't know whether that was the case and help
them get rid of a trade.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Look, it could have been, because we've got police officers ever,
and I know so I think it was on the
morning after it hit.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I was a long Baggitt road and I.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Don't know if people saw that massive tree that was
near Thelmulla walk overpass.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Oh yeah, I know, my producers.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
There was no traffic direction, so I stopped and I
had to hold up traffic and I'm trying to help
people turn around, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So it's just that it's just that local spirit, isn't
it front.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
And everyone's sort of doing what they got to do
to try and help each other out, which I reckons
the great thing that you see after a natural event
like that, you know, like a cyclone, we all do
step up and that community spirit really shines through, which
is a really good to see it truly is Hey,
I want to ask you the Northern territory governments obviously
(05:53):
today announces changes around the BDR. So essentially the band
drinker orders going to go from seven days, as I understand,
to twenty eight now. The Chief Minister's saying that that
announcement's been made with the support of Northern Territory Police.
Tell me what kind of impact will this have from
a policing perspective.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I suppose.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
So, first of all, what it does is it takes
a person who is on a bdo their restriction from
alcohol being seven days now up to the twenty eight
day period, which is fantastic because what it does, and
I heard before on the radio, it allows people more
time to get into those treatment programs if they need it.
But it also allows us to police a little bit
(06:37):
better in terms of those people that may be on
a BDO from them not getting the alcohol that they
so freely get sometimes. So we're absolutely in support of it.
And what I can say is since the first of
November when we unified a whole heap of any social
behavior activity here in Greater Darwin, we have issued two
hundred and seventy dos. So those two hundred and seventy
(07:01):
I'm not sure if they transition to the twenty eight
days when it comes in. But let's just say they don't.
At the moment, those people were on seven days as
where after the date that it becomes implemented, they'll all
be on twenty eight days, which means that's two hundred
and seventy people now who are further restricted from getting alcohol. Now,
I suppose one thing I do want to mention to
the general public. It doesn't affect all of us, you know,
(07:23):
who were drinking in public irresponsibly in the places that
we're allowed to. It's those people that are drinking in
the public places causing nuisance for the community, and they're
the people that we're really looking at so that we
can and we're doing some other things too. We've got
joint patrols with the Daily Patroller Group. We coordinate multi
agency responses all across Greater Dance. It includes Laraki Nation,
(07:47):
includes the outreach workers from Daln City Council, It includes
our Crown land management from the Department of Lands, Planning
and Environment, includes a whole range of service providers, so
that we're actually trying to target and provide the resources
that those people who are problem drinkers and do have
a problem. We're targeting those responses to them and targeting
(08:07):
those programs in.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Terms of you know, those bdos and we know that
the PPSOS the what is that it's the.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Police, police publicty, police.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Public safety Officers. I was trying to think of the
right name for them, the ppsos. SO, in terms of
these changes coming into effect, and we know the ppsos,
I believe that they're expected to be operational from sort
of early next year hopefully, how big an impact do
you think that's going to have on some of the
issues that we've had sort of in the past, you know,
(08:36):
in the past few years when it comes to that
public drunken nurse, but also the on flow then of assaults,
domestic violence, you know, all the other issues that we
see unfortunately when people are drinking very irresponsibly.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Exactly, Katie and I think for me, the PPSO concepts,
so the police public safety officer concept is a fantastic
one for the Northern Territory because alcohol is very much
the root cause of a lot of our offending across
the board, in particular that domestic violence offending, and that's
(09:13):
an area that we have the highest rates of nationally
per capita and we really need to target that. So
what the PPSO concept will do over the coming years
is build that police base that go out and target that.
And this b too extension to twenty eight days will
provide that extra I suppose bit of kit in the
(09:34):
toolbox to be able to support the community to eventually
reduce that harm that it's being caused in the alcohol
related offending.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Now, well, James, we did get a listener question. This
one came through yesterday though. Were contacted about petrol stations
in relation to drive offs being told that police inform
one of the operators not to go after any culprits
and also if someone comes into steer items, they aren't
allowed to perform a citizen's arrest. Is that the case?
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I think probably the messaging with anything like this in
a public store is personal safety. You know, our items
can be replaced, and I know that that is a
real concern for business, big xilias business all the time
about those sorts of things. But it's about personal safety.
If you feel unsafe to challenge anybody, then don't challenge them. Obviously,
(10:25):
we've rolled out the capscum spray for public use.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Now that's very strict in terms of when you can
use it.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
So I do advise the community to make sure that
they inform themselves.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
About that in terms of that capscum spray.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
But my advice is with those tools drive offs enter
into service stations, we will absolutely investigate. And I think,
as you know, Katie, and probably one of your favorite
appearances here.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Is Trident hyper and Service Cathro.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
They do a fantastic job and our clear uprates through
that just so high it isn't funny.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
They're really really good.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So the same person was wondering, do the police prosecute
people who get caught doing those petrol drive offs?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Absolutely, we do investigate them. I will say that they
do occur across the board, all the way across the territory.
With those particular types of offenses, they're not a public
safety issue unless it's in a stolen motor vehicle or
something like that, which we do get. Yeah, so the
priority list of those investigations got to be open, and honest.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
They are a little bit down the list, but we
do get to the maps.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, and look, I know I don't know exactly who
this person was who asked this question, but what I
do know is that for some of those people that
are working in those petrol stations, they'd like to be
able to come forward and speak about it, but probably
aren't a situation where they can for fear of maybe
being reprimanded then by their management. But you know, wanting
to make sure that people aren't coming and stealing petrol
(11:54):
and driving off, and wanting to make sure that there's
a consequence for.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
It, absolutely, Katie and I can say if we could
have a police officer at every business type thing, you
know that private security, it would be fantastic because you'd
stop it.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
But we can't.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
We can't be everywhere at any particular time. So my
message to those people is stay safe, protect yourself obviously,
protect life first, protect property later, and we will come
and clean up after it's happened. And I know that
that's not great, but like I say, our daily patrol
and network, that's part of that dealing with the alcohol
is to try and stend that early so that it
(12:28):
doesn't happen later on. And we do know that those
shop stealings, those drive offs, those service station events that
tend to happen are generally alcohol related or youth related
to so places like Trident or units like Trident, Cerbus
and Vipra are very much concentrating on those recidivists and
(12:49):
with the new bail laws to try and keep.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
People behind that Acting Assistant Commissioner James O'Brien, before I
let you go, I go and leave on Friday. So
I'm going to be away over the Christmas period. But
I know so that certainly the police are going to
be wanting people to stay as safe as possible on
our roads. We had a really bad few weeks there
where we saw a lot of lives lost on Northern
(13:12):
Territory roads. I mean, what is your message for people
as we head into the Christmas period? I know for
us we've got our work Christmas party on Friday. Other
people will be starting to get ready to celebrate the
festive season. Wa'ts your message to people when it comes
to to driving around over the Christmas period?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Probably a few messages, Katie, drive safe, drive to get home,
make sure that your friends are safe. Make sure that
you're looking after your mates to make sure they're not
driving under the influence. Concentrate on those fatal five. If
you're traveling long distances, it's about fatigue or it's about distraction,
making sure that you're wearing your seat belts, making sure
that you're not going too fast, and you're driving to
(13:54):
the conditions as we've just seen.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Cyclone Feena came through and that.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Was really wet and a lot of people out there
very next day, which I was quite surprised at. So
you know, driving to those conditions and also not being
under the influence of any alcohol or drugs, and we
do absolutely do drug testing. We will have a Christmas
and New Year road safety campaign. It's part of the
National road safety campaigns. We will have that out and
about so you will definitely see more police, more random
(14:21):
breath testing stations, and I don't be surprised if you
do just get pulled up randomly by police.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I think it's good. I think I like to see
that proactive policing. I think it saves lives. But I
think that it makes people feel like, all right, the
police are out there. You know. Either if you're someone
who's going to be an idiot and get behind the wheel,
well you might think twice about it. But for those
that are doing the right thing, you feel assured that
you know, if there's somebody who's not that they'll hopefully
get caught.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Absolutely and that is absolutely right, Katie.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
So just drive to revive, get home safe, make sure
that you enjoy the Christmas festivities like we all do,
but drink responsibly and make sure that if you're behind
the wheel, that you're focusing solely on being behind the
wheel and driving home well.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Acting Assistant Commissioner James O'Brien good to speak with you
this morning. Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Thank you
Joining me in the studio right now from the Northern
Territory Police and is he Acting Assistant Commissioner James O'Brien.
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good morning Katie, Good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Now, last time we spoke to you, it was on Friday,
I think it was as we were leading into cyclone Fena.
How did you guys go over the weekends?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Really good?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
You know, we were really into the swing of that
response phase for the cyclone, and I can understand that
the entire community, not just here in Darwin, but also
across the Tiwi Islands all the way to Mingelang and
warr We everybody was bunkering down and that we're really
worried because it was a tropical cyclone category through and
the winds were expected to reach over two hundred and
(00:42):
five kilometers an hour. I think, and I think, as
I said in one of my interviews, it definitely threaded
the eye of the needle, you know, just glancing Darwin
and just glancing a.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Little bit more.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I suppose of worrying Anger who probably copped the brunt,
who I believe have got ninety five percent of their
power restored, which is fantastic that's a really fantastic recovery
effort over there by the locals as well as power
and water, So congratulate them on that. But I do
understand that a lot of the community have got a
lot of concerns.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
You know, I'm hearing the.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Discussions about waste management and when power coming back on
and all those sorts of things. So there are all
those things that for me as the Northern Region Controller,
you know, the overarching sort of person that was running
at day to day for the territory controller, those things
stand front and center of mind to me about you know,
improvements for next time, how we could maybe improve some things.
(01:33):
You know, there's nothing major because we've been through it
a lot of times, but what is it there that
we can do to reassure the community a little bit more?
Is it our messaging, is it doing things a little
bit differently here and there. So, yeah, we'll definitely review
those things.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I reckon it's a good point to make because that
has been a little bit of the criticism is that
maybe some of the communication could have been slightly better
pre like there was a people on Friday going you know,
should schools have been sort of notified a little bit earlier.
What the go was Friday morning. I know it's tough
because there's so much going on at that point in time,
but then even on Monday mornings, some people saying, well,
(02:07):
should the schools have opened on Monday or should we
have maybe had one additional day to let those schools
clean up all their debris, etc. So it's a tough one,
but I think that is a really important point to
make that a review does happen and you go all right, well,
how can we potentially do things maybe a little bit
better or a little bit differently next time if needed?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Absolutely, Caatie and that's definitely something that we will do.
And I can assure your listeners that throughout that whole
response phase, I was in very close contact with Kirston Engles,
that Superintendent Kurston Engles, who was the incident controller, and
we were talking a lot about the media messaging and
what we could put out there. But the first for
that messaging, the first by the community, was so great that,
(02:50):
like I say, I think, I think we just look
at a little bit more. I've already proposed some things
for next time, but let's just see what that internal
review comes out with. We have to do it legislatively,
so let's just see what that comes out with to
try and make improvements. I do know we improve from
Marcus absolutely, so every time we will improve and look.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
At those things.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
How you touched on the Tei Islands a moment ago.
How is everybody on the tew Wii Islands going at
the moment? I know that you know, they probably copped
it worse than us. Are they all faring okay at
this point?
Speaker 3 (03:21):
So the communication I've had back, and especially from my
local area controller that the OIC, the police station over there,
is that yes, they're very good. They're in high spirits.
I did hear some media as well from locals saying.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
We've been through this before. You know, we're prepared, We're ready.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
So I feel for them having power out for so long,
but I think that they were fairly well prepared. And
I will travel over there at some point in the
coming months just to visit everybody and make sure. And
I know that others have been over there already, but
I will go over there at some.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Point and just make sure that the islands themselves are good.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, and absolutely something that you know, we all hope
that they're going to be okay. Gee, it's been good
to see like the community wrap around each other and
help each other out, isn't it? Like I Dave tole
To pop over to my house Sunday morning with a chainsaw,
you know. Then I rocked up home a couple of
days later and my husband's outside with one of our
other mates, you know, getting rid of more tree branches.
(04:17):
Yesterday we had one of our senior listeners get in
contact with us and say she couldn't get rid of
some of the greenways. We have one of our other listeners,
you know, come forward by the end of the day
to go and help her.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
It's so nice, it's so good.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
It's that it's it's that Australian spirit, isn't it. And
I think you see it in emergency situations across the
country really. You know, we've had bushfires, we've had flooding
all the way through you know, Southeast Queensland and New
South Wales and Victoria and in other place as well.
And so it doesn't change here for the territory, right
we get a cyclone and we all chip in. We
see a neighbor you know that may have a problem.
(04:53):
When we're always out there trying to help one of
our regulator, right.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I totally agree.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Hey, one of our listeners got in contact with us,
I think it was yesterday or the day before as well,
and said that they'd had like five trg go out.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
And help them.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
I don't know whether that was the case and help
them get rid of a trade.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Look, it could have been, because we've got police officers ever,
and I know so I think it was on the
morning after it hit.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I was a long Baggitt road and I.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Don't know if people saw that massive tree that was
near Thelmulla walk overpass.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Oh yeah, I know, my producers.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
There was no traffic direction, so I stopped and I
had to hold up traffic and I'm trying to help
people turn around, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So it's just that it's just that local spirit, isn't
it front.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
And everyone's sort of doing what they got to do
to try and help each other out, which I reckons
the great thing that you see after a natural event
like that, you know, like a cyclone, we all do
step up and that community spirit really shines through, which
is a really good to see it truly is Hey,
I want to ask you the Northern territory governments obviously
(05:53):
today announces changes around the BDR. So essentially the band
drinker orders going to go from seven days, as I understand,
to twenty eight now. The Chief Minister's saying that that
announcement's been made with the support of Northern Territory Police.
Tell me what kind of impact will this have from
a policing perspective.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I suppose.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
So, first of all, what it does is it takes
a person who is on a bdo their restriction from
alcohol being seven days now up to the twenty eight
day period, which is fantastic because what it does, and
I heard before on the radio, it allows people more
time to get into those treatment programs if they need it.
But it also allows us to police a little bit
(06:37):
better in terms of those people that may be on
a BDO from them not getting the alcohol that they
so freely get sometimes. So we're absolutely in support of it.
And what I can say is since the first of
November when we unified a whole heap of any social
behavior activity here in Greater Darwin, we have issued two
hundred and seventy dos. So those two hundred and seventy
(07:01):
I'm not sure if they transition to the twenty eight
days when it comes in. But let's just say they don't.
At the moment, those people were on seven days as
where after the date that it becomes implemented, they'll all
be on twenty eight days, which means that's two hundred
and seventy people now who are further restricted from getting alcohol. Now,
I suppose one thing I do want to mention to
the general public. It doesn't affect all of us, you know,
(07:23):
who were drinking in public irresponsibly in the places that
we're allowed to. It's those people that are drinking in
the public places causing nuisance for the community, and they're
the people that we're really looking at so that we
can and we're doing some other things too. We've got
joint patrols with the Daily Patroller Group. We coordinate multi
agency responses all across Greater Dance. It includes Laraki Nation,
(07:47):
includes the outreach workers from Daln City Council, It includes
our Crown land management from the Department of Lands, Planning
and Environment, includes a whole range of service providers, so
that we're actually trying to target and provide the resources
that those people who are problem drinkers and do have
a problem. We're targeting those responses to them and targeting
(08:07):
those programs in.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Terms of you know, those bdos and we know that
the PPSOS the what is that it's the.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Police, police publicty, police.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Public safety Officers. I was trying to think of the
right name for them, the ppsos. SO, in terms of
these changes coming into effect, and we know the ppsos,
I believe that they're expected to be operational from sort
of early next year hopefully, how big an impact do
you think that's going to have on some of the
issues that we've had sort of in the past, you know,
(08:36):
in the past few years when it comes to that
public drunken nurse, but also the on flow then of assaults,
domestic violence, you know, all the other issues that we
see unfortunately when people are drinking very irresponsibly.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Exactly, Katie and I think for me, the PPSO concepts,
so the police public safety officer concept is a fantastic
one for the Northern Territory because alcohol is very much
the root cause of a lot of our offending across
the board, in particular that domestic violence offending, and that's
(09:13):
an area that we have the highest rates of nationally
per capita and we really need to target that. So
what the PPSO concept will do over the coming years
is build that police base that go out and target that.
And this b too extension to twenty eight days will
provide that extra I suppose bit of kit in the
(09:34):
toolbox to be able to support the community to eventually
reduce that harm that it's being caused in the alcohol
related offending.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Now, well, James, we did get a listener question. This
one came through yesterday though. Were contacted about petrol stations
in relation to drive offs being told that police inform
one of the operators not to go after any culprits
and also if someone comes into steer items, they aren't
allowed to perform a citizen's arrest. Is that the case?
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I think probably the messaging with anything like this in
a public store is personal safety. You know, our items
can be replaced, and I know that that is a
real concern for business, big xilias business all the time
about those sorts of things. But it's about personal safety.
If you feel unsafe to challenge anybody, then don't challenge them. Obviously,
(10:25):
we've rolled out the capscum spray for public use.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Now that's very strict in terms of when you can
use it.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
So I do advise the community to make sure that
they inform themselves.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
About that in terms of that capscum spray.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
But my advice is with those tools drive offs enter
into service stations, we will absolutely investigate. And I think,
as you know, Katie, and probably one of your favorite
appearances here.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Is Trident hyper and Service Cathro.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
They do a fantastic job and our clear uprates through
that just so high it isn't funny.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
They're really really good.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So the same person was wondering, do the police prosecute
people who get caught doing those petrol drive offs?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Absolutely, we do investigate them. I will say that they
do occur across the board, all the way across the territory.
With those particular types of offenses, they're not a public
safety issue unless it's in a stolen motor vehicle or
something like that, which we do get. Yeah, so the
priority list of those investigations got to be open, and honest.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
They are a little bit down the list, but we
do get to the maps.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, and look, I know I don't know exactly who
this person was who asked this question, but what I
do know is that for some of those people that
are working in those petrol stations, they'd like to be
able to come forward and speak about it, but probably
aren't a situation where they can for fear of maybe
being reprimanded then by their management. But you know, wanting
to make sure that people aren't coming and stealing petrol
(11:54):
and driving off, and wanting to make sure that there's
a consequence for.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
It, absolutely, Katie and I can say if we could
have a police officer at every business type thing, you
know that private security, it would be fantastic because you'd
stop it.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
But we can't.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
We can't be everywhere at any particular time. So my
message to those people is stay safe, protect yourself obviously,
protect life first, protect property later, and we will come
and clean up after it's happened. And I know that
that's not great, but like I say, our daily patrol
and network, that's part of that dealing with the alcohol
is to try and stend that early so that it
(12:28):
doesn't happen later on. And we do know that those
shop stealings, those drive offs, those service station events that
tend to happen are generally alcohol related or youth related
to so places like Trident or units like Trident, Cerbus
and Vipra are very much concentrating on those recidivists and
(12:49):
with the new bail laws to try and keep.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
People behind that Acting Assistant Commissioner James O'Brien, before I
let you go, I go and leave on Friday. So
I'm going to be away over the Christmas period. But
I know so that certainly the police are going to
be wanting people to stay as safe as possible on
our roads. We had a really bad few weeks there
where we saw a lot of lives lost on Northern
(13:12):
Territory roads. I mean, what is your message for people
as we head into the Christmas period? I know for
us we've got our work Christmas party on Friday. Other
people will be starting to get ready to celebrate the
festive season. Wa'ts your message to people when it comes
to to driving around over the Christmas period?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Probably a few messages, Katie, drive safe, drive to get home,
make sure that your friends are safe. Make sure that
you're looking after your mates to make sure they're not
driving under the influence. Concentrate on those fatal five. If
you're traveling long distances, it's about fatigue or it's about distraction,
making sure that you're wearing your seat belts, making sure
that you're not going too fast, and you're driving to
(13:54):
the conditions as we've just seen.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Cyclone Feena came through and that.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Was really wet and a lot of people out there
very next day, which I was quite surprised at. So
you know, driving to those conditions and also not being
under the influence of any alcohol or drugs, and we
do absolutely do drug testing. We will have a Christmas
and New Year road safety campaign. It's part of the
National road safety campaigns. We will have that out and
about so you will definitely see more police, more random
(14:21):
breath testing stations, and I don't be surprised if you
do just get pulled up randomly by police.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I think it's good. I think I like to see
that proactive policing. I think it saves lives. But I
think that it makes people feel like, all right, the
police are out there. You know. Either if you're someone
who's going to be an idiot and get behind the wheel,
well you might think twice about it. But for those
that are doing the right thing, you feel assured that
you know, if there's somebody who's not that they'll hopefully
get caught.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Absolutely and that is absolutely right, Katie.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
So just drive to revive, get home safe, make sure
that you enjoy the Christmas festivities like we all do,
but drink responsibly and make sure that if you're behind
the wheel, that you're focusing solely on being behind the
wheel and driving home well.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Acting Assistant Commissioner James O'Brien good to speak with you
this morning. Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Thank you
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