Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
But joining me in the studio right now is see
Northern Territory Police Association Acting President Lisa Baylor's good morning
to you. Good morning, Katie, Thanks so much for your
time this morning. Now, Lisa, what was your reaction to
the Northern Territory budget yesterday from that real policing perspective.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Well, look, we're actually a bit disappointed. We think that
currently in the community there's a real focus on law
and order issues and this budget hasn't really addressed that
at all. We've actually seen a small invest further investment
into the Northern Territory Police, but we know from our
members they've been crying out saying we don't have enough
place to do our job, and this budget does not
address that at all.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
And we've seen that, hadn't we In that survey that
was conducted towards the end of last year. That was
the real sense from our rank and file officers that
there's not enough police officers to do their job or
the job that's being asked of them. The community is
really really grateful and respectful for the work that Territory
Police do, but we want to make sure there's enough
of them that they're able to really to go to
(01:01):
all those calls, call outs that they're getting.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, absolutely, Katie. And look, I know that our members
do an incredible job with the amount of resources that
they have, and often a lot of the work that's
done is done on overtime. We can't just walk away
midway through a crime series or crime break. You have
to actually see that through. So our members do an
incredible amount of overtime, and then of course over time
they actually get fatigued from that and we have burnout
(01:26):
and members book off sick, and then of course other
people step in the gap and they have to cover that.
So we've seen over the last couple of years our
members are saying, look, what's been asked for us by
government is just not sustainable and we need more resources
to do our job.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So, Lisa, where does the budget fall short? Is it
that operational fundings should there have been more?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Look, Look, definitely, and we had to look at the
federal the federal government they've they've committed to money for
a thirty additional police seller springs. We don't know what
the makeup of that's going to be, whether it's going
to be parleys or constables. I really hope it is constables,
because that's where the real need is in the care community,
for police to attend all jobs, not to stand in
front of a bottle shop. But I still question that
(02:05):
that federal funding. What was the plan for the government
if that funding hadn't come through. All springs is the
community they desperately need more police. But everywhere in the
Northern Territory we have escalating levels of crime. It's a
massive problem in terms of domestic violence and violent crime
in general, and we need police to be on the
ground to help it. We've also seen a huge increase
(02:27):
in lawful entries, theft of motor vehicles, damage of property.
It's not abating, it's just continuing.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And then we're also seeing that real violence with things
like knife crime. And we've spoken a lot in recent
weeks about really tragic, tragic circumstances, but that issue of
knife crime, it is it doesn't seem to be getting
any better.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
No, we have seen a change in the community, but
our fenders carrying weapons, I mean, we've always had weapons
has been part of our makeup within the Northern Territory,
but there has been a huge escalation of knife crime
and other weapons and I think predominantly normally that's been
out in communities. We know from our members who've been
attacked or seen that violence. But that's moving into other
(03:12):
regions and there is an escalation general people being targeted
in their own homes. It's horrifying.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
At lesa nineteen million dollars for the police station in Pepperminati.
Have we got the staff to be able to police it.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, there's no detail on how many officers are going
to be stationed there. And again I was asked this
question yesterday and I questioned, we haven't yet had the
resource review. It's something we've been calling from for a
long time. The government has committed to that. We know
that at the Coronials, Deputy small Page said we need
an additional three hundred police officers and on top of
that an additional five hundred million dollars for our police budget.
(03:50):
That's an incredible amount of money, but it actually reflects
what's going on in the community. So to commit to
building a nineteen million dollar police station pepper Minarti before
this review is done is extraordinary.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
So you reckon It's like are you sort of scratching
your head on that one?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Well, it's needed, but there's lots of needs everywhere in
the Northern Territory, and without a proper analysis of what
our current and existing needs are in all areas in
the Norman Territory, to commit to something an extraordinary cost
of nineteen million dollars, I understand that's the cost usually
building in the communities, but without actually considering what else
(04:26):
is needed, I don't know if it's responsible spending of
that money.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Now, let's talk about this three million dollars in funding
to support the recommendations of the review into mental health
and well being support. Is that something that's welcomed Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
We lobby the government for years we actually needed to
have a health and wellbeen review. We finally got that done. Look,
it's taken a little bit of time for the money
to come through, and we know that last year was
a particularly difficult year for our members in terms of
we had a number of suicides happened from police officers,
so it's been a really difficult time for our membership.
(05:02):
But again, I don't know how this money is going
to be spent. There's no detail that's been provided to
us just yet, and I'm hoping that it'll actually achieve
some real outcomes for our members.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Now, Lisa, we know that the acting Police Commissioner, Michael
Murphy was out yesterday and said that he's considering considering
queens and style knife crime reforms that they could be
rolled out in the territory following a spate of that
knife crime like we've spoken about. The acting Police Commissioner
said on Tuesday that police were investigating whether handheld metal
(05:33):
detectors known as wants could be used on territory streets.
What's the reaction been from police.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Well, look, I think anything that's going to be it's
not just about the tools, but the legislation to support
the tools, because we it depends on if there's reasonable
grands or suspicion, and for police to be actually to
search somebody to see if they're carrying a weapon, we
need to have the correct powers in place to ensure
that we're not doing anything unlawful. So I definitely would
welcome more support and more tools for police to be
(06:01):
able to use, but I think again further work would
need to be done to ensure that's done properly.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
He's also flagged some changes to graduate deployments that they're
potentially in the works that would see them stay in
Darwin or in different locations rather than having to undertake
two years in remote areas. What's your take on that.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, look, I think this is going to be welcomed
by our members. We know that we have had a
shortage of junior members in Darwin and unfortunately we age
a huge number in both Catherine and Alice Springs that
are junior constables. We have an effective police force, you
need a blend of both senior and junior members because
there's a lot of mentoring that goes on when you're
learning the craft. So we welcome this change. I think
(06:41):
it's going to be actually quite good for Daln based members,
but at the same time we need to ensure that
it's reciprocated properly with senior members being allocated to other
areas too.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Lisa, before I let you go, I'm not sure if
you've had much of an opportunity to talk to the
rank and file since we saw the retirement of Jamie Chalker,
and obviously we have got Michael Murphy acting in the
police commissioner's role. What is the sense amongst the force
at the moment. Are people feeling a little bit more
settled or is that still that feeling of uncertainty given
(07:12):
that they don't know exactly who's going to be the
next commissioner.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Well, like I've said before, at the end of the day,
it really doesn't matter who the commissioner is for us
to do our day to day work. It's when we
long term decisions and implementations of strategies, which is what
obviously previous commissioner had the twenty thirty strategy. We've been
very happy with Acting Commissioner Michael Murphy. I think there's
been some immediate changes within our police force. I've had
(07:37):
members contact us and even some members that have left
the police force are talking about returning. So I think
that's right. It's a real step in the right direction.
There is a change, and long term, I don't know
who the next commission is going to be, but at
this stage we've been very happy with Acting Commissioner Murphy.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
So there are some officers who've already been in contact
with you, who have left that are saying, look, they'll
look at retur that's under Michael Murphy.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
That's correct.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
That's pretty unbelievable for that to happen so quickly. Yes, yeah,
Oh well, Lisa Bayless, it is always great to catch
up with you the Northern Territory Police Association acting president.
When will we know who the next president's going to
be of the association.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Towards the end of the month. It's a postal vote,
so the postal ballots have gone out. Hopefully people have
received theirs. I encourage you to our police members listening
to make sure you fill them in and get them back.
Because it is postal, its snail mail. Takes a little
bit of time, but it will be decided by the
twenty fourth of May.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Well, we will talk to you again soon, no doubt.
Lisa Bayless, thanks so much for your time this morning.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Thank you,