Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now joining us in the studio a little later than usual,
the acting Assistant Commissioner for the Greater Darwin Region, Peter Maley,
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning, Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Good to have you on the show. Now. I want
to ask you firstly overnight or this morning, the early
hours of this morning, police calling for info after an
aggravated assault o curt In, Palmerston in the early hours
of this morning, a female assaulted with an edged weapon
by another female.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, correct, Katie. We've got a call just after one
o'clock in the morning and a female was found with
an injury to her face a slash wound from an
edge weapon and the assailant was a female unknown to her.
So she was taken to the hospital in a stable condition.
But at this stage the investigations are ongoing, but.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Very early, okay. So if anyone's got an info though,
they can get in contact.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
With the police Absolute one, Triple four.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hey, I do want to ask you about this situation
that I think broke the hearts of the Northern Territory
over the weekend. We know that four four year old child,
the little girl, died in Tewee on Saturday afternoon. Police
received a call about one fifty five in the afternoon
that the four year old was struck by a falling
(01:12):
palm tree and an address in tee Wee while playing
in the yard.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Absolutely, Cadie and devastating for everybody. Horrible accident and yeah,
the tree fell on the four year old and her
eleven year old brother, and unfortunately the little girl died
as a result of the tree and the eleven year
old brother had some injuries but not life threatening. An
absolute tragedy for everybody.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
It is. It's utterly heartbreaking, Peter. What's the process now
in terms of you know, what happens next? Because I
understand that the incidents, you know, as you said, it's
a terrible tragedy, it's an accident. You know, what is
the process? Does an investigation remain ongoing or what happens?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Absolutely, Catie so place, I'll attend the soone and we
looking to all aspects of the situation, what occurred, We
speak to everybody involved, and then basically after that we
put together a file for the coroner. So that's basically
the combination of the investigation.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
But from the initial investigations, it does seem that that
tree's like it's just it's fallen.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, it's a horrible accident case.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah. I want to ask you about the situation with
our watch houses now, this is something that we've spoken
about quite a bit. We caught up with the Northern
Territory Police Association last week. They'd raise serious concerns about
the Palmerston Watchhouse, saying it's overflowing with police and correctional
prisoners and at times there could be three officers left
(02:40):
to manage around one hundred prisoners. Nathan Finn reckons he
fears that there could soon be a death in custody
if the situation isn't addressed. I mean the obvious question
is why are the police having to deal with this.
I know we spoke to corrections earlier this morning and
they said they are, you know, absolutely packed as well.
(03:01):
They've got a number of different measures that are going
to be coming online to try and mitigate some of
those issues. But how difficult is this situation for the
police currently? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Quite difficult. Cody so in terms of numbers, because that's
what it is, it's a numbers game. So last Thursday
Friday the numbers were just over one hundred hundred and
one hundred and two, and Corrections took some prisoners. On
Monday we had ninety seven, and then this morning we
had sixty seven. So we had fifty one of their
(03:35):
prisoners and sixteen of ours and our sixteen went to
court this morning. So anecdotally, probably two thirds of those return.
But they Corrections are doing everything they can to try
to get those numbers down, and we're working very closely
with them. So those sort of things are going on
really well. But in terms of the numbers, yeah, it's
really hard, really hard for police, we're not prison officers.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I mean, what's the ratio then, in terms of police
officers to inmates in the watch house and is it adequate?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Look, we've gone to a twelve hour roster that I
also heard Nathan Finn speak about, so that basically frees
up more staff into the twelve hour roster. We go
from five patrol groups to four. So I'd say I
visited the watchhouse probably four times in the last two weeks,
so I suggest that it's probably about one in nine,
(04:25):
one to ten, which is really high for us. We're
not we're not you know, we don't want to deal
with those numbers.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I mean, is it dangerous?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, it's Look, it probably is. It's a volatile situation
because a cell that we probably would have six or
eight people in the other morning at six o'clock I
was counting them and there were sixteen in the cells,
two lots of cells. So look, it's not ideal, but
that's what we have at the moment. So but I
talked to our staff in relation to the situation and they,
(04:57):
you know, they really quality people and they're doing a
great job to the best of their ability in very
trying circumstances.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
I mean, it sounds like it is. It's tough going
for them. The Police Association had also told us on
the show that police resources are being tied up taking
prisoners from the Palmerston Watchhouse to the court. When we
spoke to Corrections this morning, they said that is like,
that's a fairly regular thing that happens. I mean, is
it normal practice to be taking that many people to court?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah, for sure, Coatie. So Monday week ago there was
fifty two went to court. And so if you're talking
about five or six in you know each van, you
could be talking to ten or eleven vans to depending
on the makeup of youth and females. So look, it
is an impost, but in terms of who does the conveyances,
we use auxiliaries from the watchhouse and only as a
(05:50):
last resort have we ever used a response van. It
has happened in the past, right, but it has not
happened recently.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Okay, So we're not using like using exillar ease, You're
not using your officers who would be out catching criminals on.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
The street, correct, Katie. So yes, we use everybody. And
when I was superintendent at Parmesan, I'd get inn a
vent and transport them as well. So traffic manbers do
it so that the response vans the absolute last resort.
Hasn't happened recently. But yes it has happened, Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I mean to those out there listening this morning. I know,
for rightly or wrongly, to a lot of people listening
this morning, they may be thinking to themselves, do you
know what, wil Bee, I actually don't care whether it's
great conditions for somebody in a watch house or not.
You know, taking that away for a moment, a lot
of people will still be concerned and still want to
know that the police are still out arresting those committing
(06:45):
crimes and if they need to be taken to a
watch house, if they need to be reminded that they're
doing that. Can you assure listeners that that is indeed
happening and that we don't have situations where people aren't
going to the watch house because there's not enough for it.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
No, that hasn't happened, Katie. I can assure all your
listeners that the police will arrest and take action against
any person court committing offenses and if based on the
seriousness of the offense, they will go to the watchhouse.
And you know, if we get to the situation they're
sixteen in the cell or now this seventeen, but we
(07:22):
won't shirk that commitment to the community.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
How long do you anticipate or do you know how
long the police are going to be having to manage
the Palmerston Watchhouse with correctional prisoners in there.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
It's been going on for a little while now. We
have no light at the end of the tunnel. But
in talking to my counterparting Corrections early August, there's one
hundred and twenty beds coming online in Darwin and that
I'm hoping will decant the whole of the Parmeston Watchhouse
and probably Catherine as well, and give us some spare,
(07:54):
but we know the machine that is policing and the
job that we do. You know, a couple of months
later we'll be back up to sixty seventy eighty in
the watch house again. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Well, and look, I guess while there's people committing crimes,
we are going to, unfortunately see those numbers continue to
go up, particularly within those correctional facilities. That's something that
we spoke to the Deputy Commissioner about earlier this morning
as well, Peter, I mean Moore generally as the acting
Assistant Commissioner for the Greater Darwin Region at the moment,
(08:24):
how are things going, you know, out on the streets.
I mean there's been a big push really to not
have people sort of public drinking around the place. But
as we get ready for the show on the weekend
as well, we generally do see you know, an influx
of people into town.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah, for sure, Katie, So we expect the influx, certainly
have seen it only in small portions at this stage.
But we're doing a big crime prevention piece at the
moment and that involves the Section one twenty eighth you know,
the taking the drunks off the streets. Yeah, yep, and
that sort of stuff. So it's about accepting that risk
(09:03):
and taking those people into custody for their own good
and the good of the community. So there's a huge
amount of work going on with the Territory Safety Division,
and each of the three police stations also have a
component of an anti social behavior team, so pulling those
resources and we're out with the electric bikes, the horses
and just you know, really having an impact locally.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
I haven't seen the electric bikes getting around yets.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
They're fantastic.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah, I haven't seen those. So they're just little electric
bikes around.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It looks like a full sized type mountain bike.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Well maybe I have then.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, and they're really good. So we can get into
type places where people may be hiding, drinking and things
like that. So it just gives us the ability to
move from place to place quite quickly.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Hey, do you anticipate that this weekend is going to
be a busy one with the Darwin Show on?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
I think so, yes.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah. Now I do want to just ask you before
I let you go, because this is another situation that
we found out about towards the end of last week
and made my blood boil. Police have arrested and charged
a man with sexual offending against a child in lud
Miller last month. So on the fourteenth of June, police
received a report of a suspected sexual assault against a
(10:17):
young child that a residence in lud Miller. Now police
and forensics attended and declared a crime scene further investigation.
A further investigation was able to confirm that a sexual
assault had occurred, and then on the fifteenth of July,
detectives from the Sex Crime Unit, Fugitive Task Force and
General Duties arrested a thirty four year old man at
(10:39):
a location in Yarrawonga. He's been charged. I understand that
he's even appeared in court now, I mean, Peter, this
is an It's disgusting.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Absolutely codie against the most vulnerable in our community. The
great thing is that he's been locked up and I
note that a been a month later we got him. Yeah,
So this was this case was solved via forensics, so
great work by a forensics team and so we had
to wait that four weeks until we had the confirmation
(11:12):
of the offender's identity and as soon as we did
we put those resources in place and they went and
locked him up, which was great.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I mean, was there any concern here though, that we
had an alleged defender at large that was unknown to
the initial victim.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah. Look, it's always it's always a concern that somebody
with the propensity to commit these type of offenses are
at large in the community. And I suppose at the
scene we didn't have anything at the time that readily
identified him. We thought we knew who he was, and
we knew that the child was safe at that stage,
(11:50):
so chances of repeat offending against the victim weren't going
to be possible, but we needed that forensic confirmation of
the identity before we actually went forward and arrested him.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Well, I guess, Peter, some of the people listening this
morning might be thinking to themselves, you know, like, why
wasn't there a warning I suppose to other families and
other parents that we had this alleged, you know, disgraceful
human on the loose.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
For sure, Katie, it's certainly my information from the time
from the sex crimes was that we believe that they
were known. It wasn't a stranger type relationship, so and
that's why we had a suspect in the early stages.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Okay, well, Peter, we will leave it there for this morning.
It is good to speak with you this morning. I
really appreciate your time, Assistant Commissioner. For the acting Assistant Commissioner,
I should say, for the Greater Darwin Regent Peter Malley,
thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Katie
Now joining us in the studio a little later than usual,
the acting Assistant Commissioner for the Greater Darwin Region, Peter Maley,
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning, Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Good to have you on the show. Now. I want
to ask you firstly overnight or this morning, the early
hours of this morning, police calling for info after an
aggravated assault o curt In, Palmerston in the early hours
of this morning, a female assaulted with an edged weapon
by another female.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, correct, Katie. We've got a call just after one
o'clock in the morning and a female was found with
an injury to her face a slash wound from an
edge weapon and the assailant was a female unknown to her.
So she was taken to the hospital in a stable condition.
But at this stage the investigations are ongoing, but.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Very early, okay. So if anyone's got an info though,
they can get in contact.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
With the police Absolute one, Triple four.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hey, I do want to ask you about this situation
that I think broke the hearts of the Northern Territory
over the weekend. We know that four four year old child,
the little girl, died in Tewee on Saturday afternoon. Police
received a call about one fifty five in the afternoon
that the four year old was struck by a falling
(01:12):
palm tree and an address in tee Wee while playing
in the yard.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Absolutely, Cadie and devastating for everybody. Horrible accident and yeah,
the tree fell on the four year old and her
eleven year old brother, and unfortunately the little girl died
as a result of the tree and the eleven year
old brother had some injuries but not life threatening. An
absolute tragedy for everybody.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
It is. It's utterly heartbreaking, Peter. What's the process now
in terms of you know, what happens next? Because I
understand that the incidents, you know, as you said, it's
a terrible tragedy, it's an accident. You know, what is
the process? Does an investigation remain ongoing or what happens?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Absolutely, Catie so place, I'll attend the soone and we
looking to all aspects of the situation, what occurred, We
speak to everybody involved, and then basically after that we
put together a file for the coroner. So that's basically
the combination of the investigation.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
But from the initial investigations, it does seem that that
tree's like it's just it's fallen.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, it's a horrible accident case.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah. I want to ask you about the situation with
our watch houses now, this is something that we've spoken
about quite a bit. We caught up with the Northern
Territory Police Association last week. They'd raise serious concerns about
the Palmerston Watchhouse, saying it's overflowing with police and correctional
prisoners and at times there could be three officers left
(02:40):
to manage around one hundred prisoners. Nathan Finn reckons he
fears that there could soon be a death in custody
if the situation isn't addressed. I mean the obvious question
is why are the police having to deal with this.
I know we spoke to corrections earlier this morning and
they said they are, you know, absolutely packed as well.
(03:01):
They've got a number of different measures that are going
to be coming online to try and mitigate some of
those issues. But how difficult is this situation for the
police currently? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Quite difficult. Cody so in terms of numbers, because that's
what it is, it's a numbers game. So last Thursday
Friday the numbers were just over one hundred hundred and
one hundred and two, and Corrections took some prisoners. On
Monday we had ninety seven, and then this morning we
had sixty seven. So we had fifty one of their
(03:35):
prisoners and sixteen of ours and our sixteen went to
court this morning. So anecdotally, probably two thirds of those return.
But they Corrections are doing everything they can to try
to get those numbers down, and we're working very closely
with them. So those sort of things are going on
really well. But in terms of the numbers, yeah, it's
really hard, really hard for police, we're not prison officers.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I mean, what's the ratio then, in terms of police
officers to inmates in the watch house and is it adequate?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Look, we've gone to a twelve hour roster that I
also heard Nathan Finn speak about, so that basically frees
up more staff into the twelve hour roster. We go
from five patrol groups to four. So I'd say I
visited the watchhouse probably four times in the last two weeks,
so I suggest that it's probably about one in nine,
(04:25):
one to ten, which is really high for us. We're
not we're not you know, we don't want to deal
with those numbers.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I mean, is it dangerous?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, it's Look, it probably is. It's a volatile situation
because a cell that we probably would have six or
eight people in the other morning at six o'clock I
was counting them and there were sixteen in the cells,
two lots of cells. So look, it's not ideal, but
that's what we have at the moment. So but I
talked to our staff in relation to the situation and they,
(04:57):
you know, they really quality people and they're doing a
great job to the best of their ability in very
trying circumstances.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
I mean, it sounds like it is. It's tough going
for them. The Police Association had also told us on
the show that police resources are being tied up taking
prisoners from the Palmerston Watchhouse to the court. When we
spoke to Corrections this morning, they said that is like,
that's a fairly regular thing that happens. I mean, is
it normal practice to be taking that many people to court?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah, for sure, Coatie. So Monday week ago there was
fifty two went to court. And so if you're talking
about five or six in you know each van, you
could be talking to ten or eleven vans to depending
on the makeup of youth and females. So look, it
is an impost, but in terms of who does the conveyances,
we use auxiliaries from the watchhouse and only as a
(05:50):
last resort have we ever used a response van. It
has happened in the past, right, but it has not
happened recently.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Okay, So we're not using like using exillar ease, You're
not using your officers who would be out catching criminals on.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
The street, correct, Katie. So yes, we use everybody. And
when I was superintendent at Parmesan, I'd get inn a
vent and transport them as well. So traffic manbers do
it so that the response vans the absolute last resort.
Hasn't happened recently. But yes it has happened, Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I mean to those out there listening this morning. I know,
for rightly or wrongly, to a lot of people listening
this morning, they may be thinking to themselves, do you
know what, wil Bee, I actually don't care whether it's
great conditions for somebody in a watch house or not.
You know, taking that away for a moment, a lot
of people will still be concerned and still want to
know that the police are still out arresting those committing
(06:45):
crimes and if they need to be taken to a
watch house, if they need to be reminded that they're
doing that. Can you assure listeners that that is indeed
happening and that we don't have situations where people aren't
going to the watch house because there's not enough for it.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
No, that hasn't happened, Katie. I can assure all your
listeners that the police will arrest and take action against
any person court committing offenses and if based on the
seriousness of the offense, they will go to the watchhouse.
And you know, if we get to the situation they're
sixteen in the cell or now this seventeen, but we
(07:22):
won't shirk that commitment to the community.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
How long do you anticipate or do you know how
long the police are going to be having to manage
the Palmerston Watchhouse with correctional prisoners in there.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
It's been going on for a little while now. We
have no light at the end of the tunnel. But
in talking to my counterparting Corrections early August, there's one
hundred and twenty beds coming online in Darwin and that
I'm hoping will decant the whole of the Parmeston Watchhouse
and probably Catherine as well, and give us some spare,
(07:54):
but we know the machine that is policing and the
job that we do. You know, a couple of months
later we'll be back up to sixty seventy eighty in
the watch house again. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Well, and look, I guess while there's people committing crimes,
we are going to, unfortunately see those numbers continue to
go up, particularly within those correctional facilities. That's something that
we spoke to the Deputy Commissioner about earlier this morning
as well, Peter, I mean Moore generally as the acting
Assistant Commissioner for the Greater Darwin Region at the moment,
(08:24):
how are things going, you know, out on the streets.
I mean there's been a big push really to not
have people sort of public drinking around the place. But
as we get ready for the show on the weekend
as well, we generally do see you know, an influx
of people into town.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah, for sure, Katie, So we expect the influx, certainly
have seen it only in small portions at this stage.
But we're doing a big crime prevention piece at the
moment and that involves the Section one twenty eighth you know,
the taking the drunks off the streets. Yeah, yep, and
that sort of stuff. So it's about accepting that risk
(09:03):
and taking those people into custody for their own good
and the good of the community. So there's a huge
amount of work going on with the Territory Safety Division,
and each of the three police stations also have a
component of an anti social behavior team, so pulling those
resources and we're out with the electric bikes, the horses
and just you know, really having an impact locally.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
I haven't seen the electric bikes getting around yets.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
They're fantastic.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah, I haven't seen those. So they're just little electric
bikes around.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It looks like a full sized type mountain bike.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Well maybe I have then.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, and they're really good. So we can get into
type places where people may be hiding, drinking and things
like that. So it just gives us the ability to
move from place to place quite quickly.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Hey, do you anticipate that this weekend is going to
be a busy one with the Darwin Show on?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
I think so, yes.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah. Now I do want to just ask you before
I let you go, because this is another situation that
we found out about towards the end of last week
and made my blood boil. Police have arrested and charged
a man with sexual offending against a child in lud
Miller last month. So on the fourteenth of June, police
received a report of a suspected sexual assault against a
(10:17):
young child that a residence in lud Miller. Now police
and forensics attended and declared a crime scene further investigation.
A further investigation was able to confirm that a sexual
assault had occurred, and then on the fifteenth of July,
detectives from the Sex Crime Unit, Fugitive Task Force and
General Duties arrested a thirty four year old man at
(10:39):
a location in Yarrawonga. He's been charged. I understand that
he's even appeared in court now, I mean, Peter, this
is an It's disgusting.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Absolutely codie against the most vulnerable in our community. The
great thing is that he's been locked up and I
note that a been a month later we got him. Yeah,
So this was this case was solved via forensics, so
great work by a forensics team and so we had
to wait that four weeks until we had the confirmation
(11:12):
of the offender's identity and as soon as we did
we put those resources in place and they went and
locked him up, which was great.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I mean, was there any concern here though, that we
had an alleged defender at large that was unknown to
the initial victim.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah. Look, it's always it's always a concern that somebody
with the propensity to commit these type of offenses are
at large in the community. And I suppose at the
scene we didn't have anything at the time that readily
identified him. We thought we knew who he was, and
we knew that the child was safe at that stage,
(11:50):
so chances of repeat offending against the victim weren't going
to be possible, but we needed that forensic confirmation of
the identity before we actually went forward and arrested him.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Well, I guess, Peter, some of the people listening this
morning might be thinking to themselves, you know, like, why
wasn't there a warning I suppose to other families and
other parents that we had this alleged, you know, disgraceful
human on the loose.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
For sure, Katie, it's certainly my information from the time
from the sex crimes was that we believe that they
were known. It wasn't a stranger type relationship, so and
that's why we had a suspect in the early stages.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Okay, well, Peter, we will leave it there for this morning.
It is good to speak with you this morning. I
really appreciate your time, Assistant Commissioner. For the acting Assistant Commissioner,
I should say, for the Greater Darwin Regent Peter Malley,
thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Katie
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