An operational ban on spit hoods has been implemented in the NT

Spit hoods will no longer be used on Territory kids following a review into their use across police watch houses.

Spit hoods will no longer be used on children in police custody following an operational ban on the device in the Northern Territory.

Police Minister Kate Worden said Labor cabinet reviewed alternatives complied by NT Police before directing the department to ban the device on children; more than five years after they were prohibited in youth detention centres.

“There was a body of work that happened between police, with police, so they did that work and then we looked at...the variety of options over that time and it went in as a cabinet consideration,” Ms Worden said.

Ms Worden said cabinet would not legislate the ban in police watch houses as use on adults was a very different proposition.

“So this is an operational ban and it has been a direction of cabinet,” she said.

“My focus was on children. So at the moment, we’re not looking at adults.

“It was a decision made not to look at adults at this time because we felt that it needs more work...we would like to look at that probably in the longer run, but it just needs more time.”

Police will now use a Spit Guard 360 on adults in custody which Ms Worden said provided better visualisation of the person while in the device.

In the Minister’s statement she described it as a “contemporary and safe” version.

“(Police) indicated that, probably at least a month ago, they were going to introduce a new type of spit hood, which gives much better ventilation, and a whole range of real improvements,” she said.

The decision comes after an NT News exclusive investigation revealed Territory cops used spit hoods on children 27 times since 2018.

Queensland recently implemented an operational ban on spit hoods on all people in police custody.

Northern Territory Police Association president Paul McCue said spit hoods should not be removed at the “stroke of a pen”.

“Many of our members have said they would rather be punched in the face than spat on,” Mr McCue said.

“Someone else’s bad behaviour should not be rewarded at the expense of the safety to police, who in the absence of an alternative, would be forced to use other defensive options...”

Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro said it was a dark day for the police.

“Spit hoods are highly regulated and rarely used, but are an important piece of protective equipment for both the police and the offender who may be engaging in self harm,” the Country Liberal Party leader said.

“This means our government expect police to carry out their duties in a full face mask dripping with potentially diseased phlegm and saliva, rather than have the spitter stop spitting.”

Acting Children’s Commissioner Nicole Hucks said all front line workers deserve to be safe at work.

“This is the right decision to bring the NT in line with contemporary policing

practices,” Ms Hucks said.

“Safety of front line staff can be achieved whilst also preventing our most vulnerable children from being placed at risk of harm.”

Ms Hucks said the communities are made safer by the implementation of trauma-informed, evidence-based approaches to youth justice.

Change the Record executive officer Sophie Trevitt said the Northern Territory was the second last Australian jurisdiction to stop the use of spit hoods on children in police watch houses - with the ACT the only jurisdiction to still allow their use on children.

“No person should be hooded and bagged by police, prison officers or staff,” she said.

“The evidence is overwhelming that there is no safe way to use spit hoods.

“It beggars belief that any government would continue to use them when there are safe and effective alternatives available.”

Ms Trevitt said Change the Record welcomed the move but it did not go far enough.

“It is time for the use of spit hoods on anyone, in any context, to be outlawed in the Northern Territory and right around the country.”

UTS Jumbunna Institute doctoral candidate Latoya Aroha Rule is the sibling of Wayne Fella Morrison, who died in custody while in a spit hood in 2016, which led to South Australia legislating a ban on spit hood use in 2021.

“Minister Worden’s statement seems like a move in the right direction, but today she is alleging that a ‘safe version’ of a hood can occur,” they said.

“She has failed to consider the multitude of issues that surround hooding in general. If hooding was safe, why don’t officers wear them?”

In September the NT Government reclassified spitting as an aggravated assault.

As a result it carries a sentence up to 10 years imprisonment.

Latoya said sentencing someone for spitting was out of step with the evidence that spit hoods kill people.

“A 10 year sentence for spitting but no sentence for killing someone with a spit hood?,” they said.

NT News has contacted Minister Worden for further comment.

Originally published as An operational ban on spit hoods has been implemented in the NT