Cunningham: The illusion of the Nightcliff police station is simply not going to cut the mustard

If the Nightcliff station is ‘not a police station’, then the sign on the front should be taken down. Pretending there’s a police presence there when there’s not is more dangerous than having nothing there at all, writes Matt Cunningham.

Nightcliff Police Station has conference rooms, but no holding cells. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

It’s five o’clock on Tuesday morning and I’m getting ready to a live cross in Nightcliff.

A man has been shot in the notorious Litchfield Ct public housing complex the night before. It’s pouring rain so I pull up next to the Nightcliff Police Station to get some shelter.

There’s at least eight people there.

Six drunk men, and two women – one with a badly swollen leg – another with a cut above her eye.

Another woman runs across from the new Venture public housing building across the road and starts yelling at the men.

At least nine cars have been smashed in the car park beneath the flats.

It’s carnage, and it’s all taking place within a stone’s throw of a new police station.

The only problem is the station only opens its doors during business hours, and even then, you’ll be hard-pressed to find an officer to help you.

A few hours later, Treasurer Bill Yan will deliver the news that the NT’s dire budgetary situation is much worse than previously thought.

The $15 billion debt ceiling installed by the former Labor government will need to be scrapped.

How on Earth did we get here?

The Nightcliff Police Station was touted originally as being a 24/7 station with public housing built around it. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Well, surely the Nightcliff Police Station has to be exhibit A.

A monstrous shrine to a place where we build big shiny things where they’re not needed, while ignoring the desperate need in places far beyond.

As Mr Yan pointed out this week, our governments have also been building, or planning, these projects without considering the cost of operating them.

The worst example here is the Palmerston Regional Hospital.

If the Treasurer wants to know why the health budget is cactus, he need look no further.

When the former Labor Government announced the Nightcliff Police Station we were told it would operate 24/7.

This was one of the main reasons the public housing was built around it.

There would be a permanent police presence to crack down on any bad behaviour.

But more than three years after the “station” was officially “opened” it remains closed between 4pm and 8am.

Any hopes of an improvement in that situation were dashed this week by a truth-bomb from Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro.

“Territorians shouldn’t be left under the illusion that somehow it will be able to increase its policing capacity,” she said.

Inside the Nightcliff Police Station. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“It’s a building that’s not fit-for-purpose, it can’t be a highly operational building, because … it’s a glorified office space, it’s not a police station.”

Given the corrections crisis that is seeing prisons overflow and watch-houses used to hold inmates, I (stupidly) asked whether the cells at Nightcliff might be used to help ease the burden, only to be told no such cells existed.

“Nightcliff Police Station is literally an open-plan floor space with a few offices and a kitchen,” Mrs Finocchiaro said.

“There is no watch house, there are no cells, there’s no opportunities for police to take actually frontline policing from there.”

Forget the pub with no beer, this is the police station with no cops and no lockup.

Tony Woodford and the team from Utopia’s Nation Building Australia couldn’t have dreamt this one up.

For the first time in three years, the media were given a tour of the facility this week.

Inside are dozens of empty desks, set up as a redundancy in case the Joint Emergency Services Communication Centre goes down for some reason.

It must be the most expensive back-up plan in Territory history.

The Chief Minister says the Nightcliff Police Station is “the biggest joke going around”.

But it’s no laughing matter for residents and business owners.

If it’s “not a police station” (and it isn’t), then the big sign on the front of the building should be taken down.

Because pretending there’s a police station there to help when there’s no such thing is probably more dangerous than having nothing there at all.

Originally published as Cunningham: The illusion of the Nightcliff police station is simply not going to cut the mustard