The Northern Territory police union says the government’s plan to fight crime in Alice Springs this summer is an attempt to grab “quick attention”, as it raised concerns that a redistribution of police into the town may leave remote communities understaffed.
Key points:
- The NT government’s announcement last week promised Operation Drina would include more than 50 officers
- The NT Police Association says officers are being reassigned from the investigations and property crime division
- A spike in alcohol-related violence and youth crime earlier this year in Alice Springs gained national attention
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles and Police Minister Brent Potter last week announced 50 “additional officers” would be rostered on to Operation Drina this summer to prevent a repeat of last year’s crime wave in the Red Centre.
But NT Police Association (NTPA) president Nathan Finn said the additional officers announced by the government and NT Police would be drawn from the existing workforce in Alice Springs, or shipped in from remote police stations.
He said the government’s announcement last week “wasn’t a true reflection” of the reality on the ground.
“They’re actually trying to get some quick attention in relation to what they’re trying to do down there but it’s actually using the existing resources they’ve got,” he said.
Mr Finn said officers were being reassigned from other sections of the Alice Springs police force — including its investigations and property crime divisions — into Operation Drina.
“It’s not 50 additional police officers to the Southern Region to deal with this crisis going on,” he said.
“There’s not going to be additional officers down there.”
A spike in alcohol-related violence and youth crime earlier this year in Alice Springs gained national attention, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese flying into the town as the town’s issues reached fever pitch.
Police minister says no new officers coming from rest of NT
The NT government’s announcement last week promised Operation Drina would include more than 50 officers, with a “particular focus on alcohol-related offending including assaults, unlawful entries, and domestic and family violence”.
Announcing the boost at a press conference last week, Mr Potter said the resources would be “additional officers doing additional shifts”.
But on Monday afternoon, Mr Potter confirming resourcing for Operation Drina would come from moving officers from other parts of the Alice Springs Police Station.
“There’ll be no officers taken from Darwin, Katherine [and] Tennant Creek, and there’ll be no officers taken from remote communities,” he said.
“There are enough officers in Alice Springs to fill the general duties vans.”
He said residents in Alice Springs could expect quick response times to calls for assistance, while pledging a “high-visibility” police presence.
Mr Potter said stations in remote communities would maintain staffing levels.
“We’re a government that implemented the remote policing strategy, going from two police officers per station to three officers, so that we can cover off on leave,” he said.
But Mr Finn said he had concerns officers in remote communities would be deployed to Alice Springs and other larger centres to deal with expected increases in demand over summer.
He said this would leave their colleagues understaffed and in some cases “alone” in remote stations, hours away from back up, for up to four to five days at a time.
“Remote locations barely have three members at this point as it is, so for them to remain at that staffing — it’s not going to happen,” he said.
“It’s not acceptable to us at the Northern Territory Police Association, it’s not acceptable to our members to be put in that situation either.”