Police, community meet after cop assaulted

A MEETING between police and Mataranka community has eased tensions following the assault of a cop and anger of public drinking.

A MEETING between police and Mataranka community has eased tensions following the assault of a cop and anger of public drinking.

The NT News reported earlier this month a Mataranka man allegedly assaulted a police officer and smashed two cop cars after being stopped with two open cans of beer.

The incident led to calls to approve a designated drinking area outside of licenced premises but within the township.

A petition signed by 30 people asked for the two police stationed in Mataranka to be removed from town, 100km south of Katherine.

Last week, Superintendent Craig Barrett chaired the meeting and said the community backed the police presence.

Supt Barrett denied the meeting was a response to the assault.

He said more than 100 people attended the meeting.

“The community have very strong support for police. I told them police do make mistakes some times in every community across the whole Territory. If we do a great job or a poor job we need your feed back to move forward,” he said.

“There was quite a lot of vocal people from across the township who stood up and had the full support towards the police.”

Supt Barrett said a second meeting would be held in the coming weeks to establish the committee and what direction it would take.

“There is real passion in the town and the surrounding communities really want to achieve good things.”

Northern Territory Police Association President Paul McCue said it was reassuring to hear the Mataranka community backed the work of police.

“This incident is yet another example of the anti-social issues and safety concerns that police officers face across the Northern Territory, driven by alcohol consumption,” he said.

“It is apparent there is a lack of clear direction and policy from government relating to alcohol in the community.

“For some time now, we have received reports that displacement from Katherine to locations such as Mataranka due to restrictions on access to alcohol, stemmed from the Territory government’s Point of Sale Interventions.”