Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We brought you that news yesterday that the Northern Territory
Police Commissioner has appointed Clinton Sims as the new Deputy
Commissioner following a national recruitment campaign. The announcement coincides with
the new six-month trial of a two-deputy commissioner model. It's
for that six-month period with each role to oversee a
different area of the force. Now, joining us on the
(00:21):
line to explain more about what this means and how
it's going to work It is the Northern Territory Police Commissioner,
Martin Dole. Good morning to you, Commissioner.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good morning, Katie, and good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Good to have you on the show.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Now, firstly, give us a bit of background about your
new deputy, Clint Sims.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Well, Katie, first of all, it's exciting news for the
Northern Territory Police. We haven't had a substantive deputy commissioner
in place since March last year. So this appointment brings
significant stability to the police force with a permanent deputy
commissioner in place. But more importantly, Clint Sims is a
veteran of the Northern Territory Police Force, having served over
(01:02):
21 years with the Northern Territory Police and now 31
years in law enforcement. So he comes back with a
wealth of knowledge and a wealth of experience.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
How important is it and how important is that previous
experience in the Northern Territory, given the unique challenges that
we know officers do face when they're serving in the NT?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Oh, it's extremely important. Katie, Clint knows the Northern Territory.
He's worked across the Northern Territory from Alice Springs, Catherine, Darwin.
He's worked in specialist roles, frontline roles and leadership roles.
And policing in the Northern Territory is unique. So he
gets the challenges that our members are faced with. He
gets the relationships that are important across the Northern Territory.
(01:42):
And he's the right man for the job.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Commissioner, tell us, you've also launched this six-month trial. Can
you explain how that's going to work?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, absolutely, Katie. So we've previously seen two deputy commissioner
model in the Northern Territory. We had that for a
number of years, as was stated by media in the
press conference yesterday. But we went back to a single
deputy commissioner model when I was actually the deputy commissioner
in 2023. And we based that deputy commissioner in Alice Springs.
(02:12):
So as a new leadership team, I've got to look
and see is that the best fit for the Northern Territory?
Does that serve the people of the Northern Territory effectively?
Does it provide sufficient leadership across the Northern Territory? So
with the appointment of a permanent deputy, it gives us
the opportunity to have a look at the two deputy
model again and work out if that's going to be
a better fit, better leadership representation across the Territory and
(02:34):
better leadership for our people on the ground.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
What sort of makes you think it might be or
why have you gone back down that path?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Look, like I said, we've gone to the single deputy model.
I was the first deputy commissioner again after two. Incredibly
big job. And look, our police force is expanding, Katie.
We've now got over 1,800 police in the Northern Territory
Police Force and there's a real need for strong leadership
across the territories. So this gives us a chance to
split the portfolios, have a look. We've got the two
(03:05):
portfolios of specialist and operational support, which Deputy Commissioner Sims
has been appointed to. And the second portfolio is territory policing. Now,
that territory policing portfolio encompasses all of the remote police
stations and regional police stations and our road policing contingent.
So it gives us an opportunity to assess whether a
deputy commissioner dedicated to that role can improve services for Territorians.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
And we've spoken on many occasions with Travis Wurst. He
remains acting at this point, but will oversee one of
these roles.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
As well, won't he?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That's correct. So Travis has been the Acting Deputy Commissioner
for the last 10 months. And we recognise his contribution
and his leadership. So he's got the opportunity to perform
as the Acting Deputy Commissioner continuing in that second portfolio
while we assess if it's the best fit for our
executive team.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
And so at this point in time, you're not recruiting
to that role to fill it permanently. You'll wait and
see what happens while that six-month trial's underway.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
That's exactly right, yes.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And just in.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Terms of your executive at the moment, how many of
those positions do you still have vacant? Where are you
at in terms of filling some of those other roles
that have been vacant for a little while? Yep.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Katie, so this trial also coincides with a review of
the structure of the executive of the Northern Territory Police Force.
And that's when we'll consider the number of assistant commissioners
we've got, the portfolios that we've got, whether there needs
to be a realignment. Some of that work's happening and
I need to be careful about giving too much information
away because that needs to be consulted with the police
(04:39):
association and that hasn't occurred yet. I know. Obviously, we
do have to have consultation. We've got to look at
the structure and where things fit. And we'll take advice
from the NTPA about what they think about some of
our ideas moving forward.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
And Commissioner, just from the outside looking in, it does
seem as though, I mean, even the fact that you are,
you know, like you're based in Alice Springs, but obviously
travel up here to the top end often. Even a
moment ago when you were talking about the regions and
those two deputy roles, It does seem as though you
want the police force to be focusing on every area
of the Northern Territory, not sort of just the top end.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
That's exactly right, Katie. The people that live in communities
in the regional parts of Australia deserve the same standard
of policing services that they can get in the major centres.
And that's one of my focuses, is that the people
in the communities can feel as safe as people in
urban centres. And that requires strong leadership and strong direction.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Now, Commissioner, on the weekend, you did pen an opinion
piece in the Northern Territory News about crime across the
Northern Territory, saying that territory-wide crime's fallen 13%.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Over the past year.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
But you've made it clear that that job is far
from over, and that's something I sort of want to
chat about now. You did acknowledge that those figures offer
little comfort to Territorians who've recently been victims of crime.
How do you balance that with the overall reduction that
you're seeing? Because we talk a lot about this, you know, like,
Obviously those numbers are going down, but there are still
(06:06):
people who've got real concerns about some of the crime
that is still happening.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Of course there is, Katie, and anybody affected by crime
gets impacted and then when that's publicised, other people get
vicarious trauma by it. And I understand that anybody that's
impacted by crime or knows somebody that's impacted by crime
doesn't feel safe. So it's cold comfort for them when
we come out and we say there's a strong reduction
(06:31):
and we're celebrating that. We should celebrate reductions because the
trend is going down. And I think the point I'm
trying to make is that the data supports what we're seeing,
that reduction in crime, but it's acknowledged to me that
we've still got people committing offences. We've still got a
lot of work to do across the territory. And this
is not a point where we say... oh, we've got
(06:52):
to a stage now where we're going to stop focusing
on it. It's telling the public that we haven't taken
our foot off the pedal. We're going to continue to
drive crime down in the Northern Territory. We're going to
continue to deliver a high-quality service and we're going to
respond to crime. And... I want people to report crime.
This is not about saying, oh, the stats are down
because people aren't reporting crime. I want people to report
(07:14):
crime because that gives us the ability to respond. It
gives us the ability to investigate it and it gives
us the ability to find those responsible for committing that
and put them away if that's required.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, I know there's been some commentary, I reckon it
was last week, around sometimes people sort of saying stuff
on Facebook or jumping on Facebook and sharing something that's
happened to them but not necessarily reporting it.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Is that what's happening?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Look, there's some anecdotal evidence of that, Katie. I find
it very strange that people wouldn't report serious crime. If
they're going to come out and talk about it publicly
on Facebook, why not make the effort and ring the
police and let us investigate it so that we can
catch those responsible? So, look, I think there's probably a
little bit of a rhetoric around it. Sure, there's some
people that don't report minor matters, but I would encourage
(07:59):
anybody out there, if something serious happens to you, ring
the Northern Territory Police and we will respond and investigate it.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Now, tell me, I know that domestic and family violence,
it does really remain a major challenge, accounting for around
two-thirds of assaults in the Northern Territory. Even overnight, I
heard ABC News reporting of a terrible situation in Tennant Creek,
where I understand that two women were assaulted, allegedly, by
a 16-year-old. One of them had a one-year-old baby with her.
(08:27):
I don't know whether it was a domestic violence incident,
but we know that domestic violence is an absolute scourge
in the Northern Territory. What more, not only can police
be doing to reduce these numbers, but some of our
other agencies as well that are actually, you know, like
it is the work that they are, you know, that
they're funded to do.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
That's exactly right, Katie. And I spoke about this in
Dubbo last week. I spoke about police can't be the
solution for everything in communities. It's about building resilience. It's
about the NGOs and the other government services that are
funded to support families, to address some of the drivers
and enablers of crime to stop those things from occurring
(09:07):
and domestic violence is exactly one of those things. We'll
always respond when safety is at risk or when somebody's
been assaulted and we'll respond to domestic incidents but as
you said it takes up a lot of our resources
and a lot of our work and there's a lot
of preventative things that should be and could be happening
to prevent us having to respond when it turns the
worst that it turns and people are assaulted.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Commissioner, just a.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Couple of quick listener questions. Somebody has messaged through to
ask about the digital licences. I know that there's still
work happening behind the scenes on those. The government's sorting
that out. But will there be much need for the
police to sort of, you know, like in terms of changes,
how different could it potentially make your jobs when you
pull someone over, for example?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Well, hopefully it's a little bit easier, Katie, because generally
everybody's got a mobile phone with them these days, but
not everybody has their cards or their wallet with them.
So Be a for people to produce their licence when requested,
it should be a little bit simpler for Northern Territory
Police when we're asking for that.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Well, good.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I hope it is. I hope it's easier for everybody.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I know there's been plenty of questions about the BDR
and how to work there, but we will talk more,
I'm sure, about that with others. Hey, Commissioner, one of
the other things we do get asked about fairly often
is the PPSOs. People wondering whether there might be a
better or a faster way for them to get in
contact with the PPSOs if, you know, some of the
(10:31):
issues that they're experiencing in their area are maybe more
anti-social behaviour or alcohol related and they're not feeling as
though they need, you know, somebody to come out and
investigate something.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Katie, look, the deployment model for our PPSOs is still
through the contact for the JESC. If there's ongoing antisocial
behaviour issues, then there's other mechanisms to report that through
your local member, and we regularly meet with our local
members and we patrol hotspots that are identified to them
through community complaints. But if there's a need for any
social behaviour or those type of things, our communications centre
(11:06):
is still the place to call to get a policing response.
Our call response times are... have dramatically improved in the
last 12 months, and we are doing very well in
answering the calls that come into our GESC. Yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Are you able to, like, can you quantify that reduction
in any way?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
The reduction?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Like, as in the improvement? Yeah, the improvement, the reduction
in the, I guess.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
The wait time. I don't have the figures exactly in
front of me, so I don't want to misquote, but
I know that we've got national KPI metrics in relation
to call-taking. and that they've been down for quite a
period of time. And over the last 12 months, they've
improved significantly and we're meeting our national call-taking standards across
the Northern Territory. And look, some of that is the
(11:48):
improvement with the call centre in Alice Springs. During the
operating hours of that, it takes over 70% of the
calls generated in this region. So that takes the pressure
off the JESC in Darwin as well.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Well, that's good to hear.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Because I know in the past, we've had the JESC
on the show before telling us about some of the
absolutely ridiculous calls that they get from people. you know,
having issues with their cars and all sorts of garbage.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Oh, that still happens, Katie. Oh, I bet.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
I bet.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
There's certain things that you do not need to call
the police for. Call them in an emergency or when
you need, you know, help with a crime. There's other
things you just don't need to call the cops for.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Hey, there's a few messages coming through just in relation
to those digital driver's licences, and I don't know whether
they're best for you or for the government, but one
from Darby in the Dew, and he's sort of saying,
You know, Katie, if your licence is on your phone
and you're opening your phone to, you know, to hand
over or to show to the police, he reckons the
(12:46):
police cannot get you to open your phone without a warrant,
but you will hand over an open phone allowing an
officer to access.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
All your data.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
So I guess people may be a bit concerned about
what police might be able to access on their phones.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, I don't know... envisage us having to actually handle
that device Katie I mean I get there's some sensitivities
around people's information and you know maybe some mistrust of
handing an open device to the police but if we're
requesting your license you only have to show us your
license I don't think we're going to be requesting people's
phone to take away and do examinations of it but
(13:22):
those things look those things will be worked through and
we'll work through our operating model as electronic licenses are
rolled out they're rolled out in other jurisdictions and I
just don't have sufficient information in front of me at
the moment to address a lot of those concerns but
look it it's in other jurisdictions so I'm sure there's
mechanisms around it and I'm sure it's not going to
cause us any dramas.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Commissioner just really quickly before I let you go another
fatal pedestrian crash in Berrima overnight just after 9 30
there was reports that a Hilux had struck a male
pedestrian the driver remained at the scene and returned negative
results to both alcohol and drugs. We know that investigations
into the circumstances are indeed continuing. But, you know, the
(14:04):
deaths on our road, I don't know what else we
can do to, you know, to try to get things
to improve in this space.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
But it sounds like another terrible tragedy.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
It is a tragedy, Katie, and it brings the lives
lost on territory roads for 2026 to 24 now. That's
24 too many. And I just obviously encourage the public
to be aware when you're driving. Remember the fatal five.
Be cautious of vulnerable people on our roads. But look,
the driver last night remained at the scene. He insisted investigators.
(14:36):
He didn't leave the scene and he was drug and
alcohol tested. So, you know, kudos to the driver in
that regards. And our thoughts just go out to everybody
involved in that incident last night.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Well, Northern Territory Police Commissioner Martin Doll, appreciate your time
as always. Thanks very much for having a chat with
us this morning.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Thanks so much, Katie, and thanks for your time.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Thank you.
We brought you that news yesterday that the Northern Territory
Police Commissioner has appointed Clinton Sims as the new Deputy
Commissioner following a national recruitment campaign. The announcement coincides with
the new six-month trial of a two-deputy commissioner model. It's
for that six-month period with each role to oversee a
different area of the force. Now, joining us on the
(00:21):
line to explain more about what this means and how
it's going to work It is the Northern Territory Police Commissioner,
Martin Dole. Good morning to you, Commissioner.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good morning, Katie, and good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Good to have you on the show.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Now, firstly, give us a bit of background about your
new deputy, Clint Sims.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Well, Katie, first of all, it's exciting news for the
Northern Territory Police. We haven't had a substantive deputy commissioner
in place since March last year. So this appointment brings
significant stability to the police force with a permanent deputy
commissioner in place. But more importantly, Clint Sims is a
veteran of the Northern Territory Police Force, having served over
(01:02):
21 years with the Northern Territory Police and now 31
years in law enforcement. So he comes back with a
wealth of knowledge and a wealth of experience.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
How important is it and how important is that previous
experience in the Northern Territory, given the unique challenges that
we know officers do face when they're serving in the NT?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Oh, it's extremely important. Katie, Clint knows the Northern Territory.
He's worked across the Northern Territory from Alice Springs, Catherine, Darwin.
He's worked in specialist roles, frontline roles and leadership roles.
And policing in the Northern Territory is unique. So he
gets the challenges that our members are faced with. He
gets the relationships that are important across the Northern Territory.
(01:42):
And he's the right man for the job.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Commissioner, tell us, you've also launched this six-month trial. Can
you explain how that's going to work?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, absolutely, Katie. So we've previously seen two deputy commissioner
model in the Northern Territory. We had that for a
number of years, as was stated by media in the
press conference yesterday. But we went back to a single
deputy commissioner model when I was actually the deputy commissioner
in 2023. And we based that deputy commissioner in Alice Springs.
(02:12):
So as a new leadership team, I've got to look
and see is that the best fit for the Northern Territory?
Does that serve the people of the Northern Territory effectively?
Does it provide sufficient leadership across the Northern Territory? So
with the appointment of a permanent deputy, it gives us
the opportunity to have a look at the two deputy
model again and work out if that's going to be
a better fit, better leadership representation across the Territory and
(02:34):
better leadership for our people on the ground.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
What sort of makes you think it might be or
why have you gone back down that path?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Look, like I said, we've gone to the single deputy model.
I was the first deputy commissioner again after two. Incredibly
big job. And look, our police force is expanding, Katie.
We've now got over 1,800 police in the Northern Territory
Police Force and there's a real need for strong leadership
across the territories. So this gives us a chance to
split the portfolios, have a look. We've got the two
(03:05):
portfolios of specialist and operational support, which Deputy Commissioner Sims
has been appointed to. And the second portfolio is territory policing. Now,
that territory policing portfolio encompasses all of the remote police
stations and regional police stations and our road policing contingent.
So it gives us an opportunity to assess whether a
deputy commissioner dedicated to that role can improve services for Territorians.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
And we've spoken on many occasions with Travis Wurst. He
remains acting at this point, but will oversee one of
these roles.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
As well, won't he?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That's correct. So Travis has been the Acting Deputy Commissioner
for the last 10 months. And we recognise his contribution
and his leadership. So he's got the opportunity to perform
as the Acting Deputy Commissioner continuing in that second portfolio
while we assess if it's the best fit for our
executive team.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
And so at this point in time, you're not recruiting
to that role to fill it permanently. You'll wait and
see what happens while that six-month trial's underway.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
That's exactly right, yes.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And just in.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Terms of your executive at the moment, how many of
those positions do you still have vacant? Where are you
at in terms of filling some of those other roles
that have been vacant for a little while? Yep.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Katie, so this trial also coincides with a review of
the structure of the executive of the Northern Territory Police Force.
And that's when we'll consider the number of assistant commissioners
we've got, the portfolios that we've got, whether there needs
to be a realignment. Some of that work's happening and
I need to be careful about giving too much information
away because that needs to be consulted with the police
(04:39):
association and that hasn't occurred yet. I know. Obviously, we
do have to have consultation. We've got to look at
the structure and where things fit. And we'll take advice
from the NTPA about what they think about some of
our ideas moving forward.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
And Commissioner, just from the outside looking in, it does
seem as though, I mean, even the fact that you are,
you know, like you're based in Alice Springs, but obviously
travel up here to the top end often. Even a
moment ago when you were talking about the regions and
those two deputy roles, It does seem as though you
want the police force to be focusing on every area
of the Northern Territory, not sort of just the top end.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
That's exactly right, Katie. The people that live in communities
in the regional parts of Australia deserve the same standard
of policing services that they can get in the major centres.
And that's one of my focuses, is that the people
in the communities can feel as safe as people in
urban centres. And that requires strong leadership and strong direction.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Now, Commissioner, on the weekend, you did pen an opinion
piece in the Northern Territory News about crime across the
Northern Territory, saying that territory-wide crime's fallen 13%.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Over the past year.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
But you've made it clear that that job is far
from over, and that's something I sort of want to
chat about now. You did acknowledge that those figures offer
little comfort to Territorians who've recently been victims of crime.
How do you balance that with the overall reduction that
you're seeing? Because we talk a lot about this, you know, like,
Obviously those numbers are going down, but there are still
(06:06):
people who've got real concerns about some of the crime
that is still happening.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Of course there is, Katie, and anybody affected by crime
gets impacted and then when that's publicised, other people get
vicarious trauma by it. And I understand that anybody that's
impacted by crime or knows somebody that's impacted by crime
doesn't feel safe. So it's cold comfort for them when
we come out and we say there's a strong reduction
(06:31):
and we're celebrating that. We should celebrate reductions because the
trend is going down. And I think the point I'm
trying to make is that the data supports what we're seeing,
that reduction in crime, but it's acknowledged to me that
we've still got people committing offences. We've still got a
lot of work to do across the territory. And this
is not a point where we say... oh, we've got
(06:52):
to a stage now where we're going to stop focusing
on it. It's telling the public that we haven't taken
our foot off the pedal. We're going to continue to
drive crime down in the Northern Territory. We're going to
continue to deliver a high-quality service and we're going to
respond to crime. And... I want people to report crime.
This is not about saying, oh, the stats are down
because people aren't reporting crime. I want people to report
(07:14):
crime because that gives us the ability to respond. It
gives us the ability to investigate it and it gives
us the ability to find those responsible for committing that
and put them away if that's required.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, I know there's been some commentary, I reckon it
was last week, around sometimes people sort of saying stuff
on Facebook or jumping on Facebook and sharing something that's
happened to them but not necessarily reporting it.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Is that what's happening?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Look, there's some anecdotal evidence of that, Katie. I find
it very strange that people wouldn't report serious crime. If
they're going to come out and talk about it publicly
on Facebook, why not make the effort and ring the
police and let us investigate it so that we can
catch those responsible? So, look, I think there's probably a
little bit of a rhetoric around it. Sure, there's some
people that don't report minor matters, but I would encourage
(07:59):
anybody out there, if something serious happens to you, ring
the Northern Territory Police and we will respond and investigate it.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Now, tell me, I know that domestic and family violence,
it does really remain a major challenge, accounting for around
two-thirds of assaults in the Northern Territory. Even overnight, I
heard ABC News reporting of a terrible situation in Tennant Creek,
where I understand that two women were assaulted, allegedly, by
a 16-year-old. One of them had a one-year-old baby with her.
(08:27):
I don't know whether it was a domestic violence incident,
but we know that domestic violence is an absolute scourge
in the Northern Territory. What more, not only can police
be doing to reduce these numbers, but some of our
other agencies as well that are actually, you know, like
it is the work that they are, you know, that
they're funded to do.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
That's exactly right, Katie. And I spoke about this in
Dubbo last week. I spoke about police can't be the
solution for everything in communities. It's about building resilience. It's
about the NGOs and the other government services that are
funded to support families, to address some of the drivers
and enablers of crime to stop those things from occurring
(09:07):
and domestic violence is exactly one of those things. We'll
always respond when safety is at risk or when somebody's
been assaulted and we'll respond to domestic incidents but as
you said it takes up a lot of our resources
and a lot of our work and there's a lot
of preventative things that should be and could be happening
to prevent us having to respond when it turns the
worst that it turns and people are assaulted.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Commissioner, just a.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Couple of quick listener questions. Somebody has messaged through to
ask about the digital licences. I know that there's still
work happening behind the scenes on those. The government's sorting
that out. But will there be much need for the
police to sort of, you know, like in terms of changes,
how different could it potentially make your jobs when you
pull someone over, for example?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Well, hopefully it's a little bit easier, Katie, because generally
everybody's got a mobile phone with them these days, but
not everybody has their cards or their wallet with them.
So Be a for people to produce their licence when requested,
it should be a little bit simpler for Northern Territory
Police when we're asking for that.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Well, good.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I hope it is. I hope it's easier for everybody.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I know there's been plenty of questions about the BDR
and how to work there, but we will talk more,
I'm sure, about that with others. Hey, Commissioner, one of
the other things we do get asked about fairly often
is the PPSOs. People wondering whether there might be a
better or a faster way for them to get in
contact with the PPSOs if, you know, some of the
(10:31):
issues that they're experiencing in their area are maybe more
anti-social behaviour or alcohol related and they're not feeling as
though they need, you know, somebody to come out and
investigate something.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Katie, look, the deployment model for our PPSOs is still
through the contact for the JESC. If there's ongoing antisocial
behaviour issues, then there's other mechanisms to report that through
your local member, and we regularly meet with our local
members and we patrol hotspots that are identified to them
through community complaints. But if there's a need for any
social behaviour or those type of things, our communications centre
(11:06):
is still the place to call to get a policing response.
Our call response times are... have dramatically improved in the
last 12 months, and we are doing very well in
answering the calls that come into our GESC. Yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Are you able to, like, can you quantify that reduction
in any way?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
The reduction?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Like, as in the improvement? Yeah, the improvement, the reduction
in the, I guess.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
The wait time. I don't have the figures exactly in
front of me, so I don't want to misquote, but
I know that we've got national KPI metrics in relation
to call-taking. and that they've been down for quite a
period of time. And over the last 12 months, they've
improved significantly and we're meeting our national call-taking standards across
the Northern Territory. And look, some of that is the
(11:48):
improvement with the call centre in Alice Springs. During the
operating hours of that, it takes over 70% of the
calls generated in this region. So that takes the pressure
off the JESC in Darwin as well.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Well, that's good to hear.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Because I know in the past, we've had the JESC
on the show before telling us about some of the
absolutely ridiculous calls that they get from people. you know,
having issues with their cars and all sorts of garbage.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Oh, that still happens, Katie. Oh, I bet.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
I bet.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
There's certain things that you do not need to call
the police for. Call them in an emergency or when
you need, you know, help with a crime. There's other
things you just don't need to call the cops for.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Hey, there's a few messages coming through just in relation
to those digital driver's licences, and I don't know whether
they're best for you or for the government, but one
from Darby in the Dew, and he's sort of saying,
You know, Katie, if your licence is on your phone
and you're opening your phone to, you know, to hand
over or to show to the police, he reckons the
(12:46):
police cannot get you to open your phone without a warrant,
but you will hand over an open phone allowing an
officer to access.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
All your data.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
So I guess people may be a bit concerned about
what police might be able to access on their phones.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, I don't know... envisage us having to actually handle
that device Katie I mean I get there's some sensitivities
around people's information and you know maybe some mistrust of
handing an open device to the police but if we're
requesting your license you only have to show us your
license I don't think we're going to be requesting people's
phone to take away and do examinations of it but
(13:22):
those things look those things will be worked through and
we'll work through our operating model as electronic licenses are
rolled out they're rolled out in other jurisdictions and I
just don't have sufficient information in front of me at
the moment to address a lot of those concerns but
look it it's in other jurisdictions so I'm sure there's
mechanisms around it and I'm sure it's not going to
cause us any dramas.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Commissioner just really quickly before I let you go another
fatal pedestrian crash in Berrima overnight just after 9 30
there was reports that a Hilux had struck a male
pedestrian the driver remained at the scene and returned negative
results to both alcohol and drugs. We know that investigations
into the circumstances are indeed continuing. But, you know, the
(14:04):
deaths on our road, I don't know what else we
can do to, you know, to try to get things
to improve in this space.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
But it sounds like another terrible tragedy.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
It is a tragedy, Katie, and it brings the lives
lost on territory roads for 2026 to 24 now. That's
24 too many. And I just obviously encourage the public
to be aware when you're driving. Remember the fatal five.
Be cautious of vulnerable people on our roads. But look,
the driver last night remained at the scene. He insisted investigators.
(14:36):
He didn't leave the scene and he was drug and
alcohol tested. So, you know, kudos to the driver in
that regards. And our thoughts just go out to everybody
involved in that incident last night.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Well, Northern Territory Police Commissioner Martin Doll, appreciate your time
as always. Thanks very much for having a chat with
us this morning.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Thanks so much, Katie, and thanks for your time.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Thank you.
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