Alice Springs emergency police operation puts pressure on community stations
With 40 additional officers deployed to Alice Springs, there are fears community stations could be left short-staffed. Read what the politicians are saying.
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There are fears the deployment of 40 extra police officers to Alice Springs a week ago is leaving remote communities short on resources.
The cops were sent to Alice Springs on November 23 to appease surging crime levels, which led to the shut down of the CBD this month.
A week on from the deployment of Operation Drina, more than 100 individuals have been taken into protective custody and 24 arrests made.
The 40 officers have been relocated from Darwin, Tennant Creek, the Barkly region and Southern Desert division.
Operation Drina is set to run until December 14, with an extension likely.
During Tuesday’s parliament sittings, the opposition claimed Hart’s Range police station had been forced to close because its officers were sent to Alice Springs.
The station is 212km northeast of Alice Springs and services communities including Atitjere, Engawala and Bonya.
However, a police spokesman told the NT News that two sworn officers of the station had been deployed to Alice Springs for the first four days of the operation with Aboriginal liaison officers remaining at the remote station.
When asked about Hart’s Range station, Police Minister Kate Worden did not specifically address the question.
“We have invested $100m more into our police force since 2016,” she said.
“Some of this in remote areas is done in partnership with the federal government.
“The former federal government was not very interested in increasing or even looking at their servicing into remote communities.
“We have invested in our police and will continue investing in our police and in the bush, and listen to the voices of the bush.”
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro said the minister was out of touch with her own portfolio.
“There’s no question that to pull 40 police to send to Alice Springs is going to put enormous pressure either on remote police stations or police stations in our towns and cities,” Ms Finocchiaro said.
“The government is not being forthcoming about where those police would come from and what impact that’s going to have on policing in the rest of the Territory.
“We know Labor won’t listen to the community about crime but when they don’t even know their own portfolio, there are serious questions to be answered.”
The NT Police and Emergency Services annual report, which was tabled in parliament last week, shows police numbers have declined.
NT Police Association senior vice president Lisa Bayliss said the drop was “astonishing”.
“We have 35 less officers, compared with the previous financial year, and what’s more concerning is the fact we have 30 less constables compared with 2020-21,” Ms Bayliss said.
“That means, only 12 officers have been added to the NT Police force since the 2019-20 annual report was released.
“This is further proof attrition is outweighing recruitment.”
An NT police survey handed down in August found 93 per cent of members believed there was not enough police in the NT to meet their demands.
Furthermore, 79 per cent agreed morale was low or very low.
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