Central Desert station closed for three months and officers left alone for 11 days

TERRITORY bush stations have gone unmanned for months on end and officers have been left without relief for up to 11 days

Northern Territory Police Association president Paul McCue says police aren’t protected enough. PICTURE: Tom Volling

TERRITORY bush stations have gone unmanned for months on end and officers have been left without relief for up to 11 days.

The NT News can reveal rosters from the Central Desert region show the Nyirripi and Impanpa stations in remote Central Australia were closed for three months until November.

Stations in Willowra and Finke were also closed for at least a week and an officer at Harts Range and Papunya stations were left alone for 11 days.

The dangers of single officer patrols were again highlighted by the machete attack of an officer near Borroloola two weeks ago.

The NT News understands the officer suffered two serious cuts to his head and one to his chest and a deep gash to his shoulder.

His injuries were so severe he was evacuated to Darwin for treatment.

The revelation comes after repeated calls from police to end single officer patrols and calls for a policy change 18 months in the works to be fast tracked.

NT Police Association president Paul McCue said back up for officers was hundreds of kilometres and hours away.

“We continue to call on the Commissioner of Police to develop and implement a single officer patrol policy — we have been asking for this for more than 18 months. Why is the safety of the Territory’s police officers not a priority? Why are our police not being protected?” he said.

“It beggars belief that the police force is not mitigating the obvious risks and continues to allow under resourced remote stations and single officer patrols to occur without policy and procedures in place.”

Southern Operations Acting Assistant Commissioner Danny Bacon said officers used their judgment and experience to assess dangerous of situations.

“There is no expectation that officers will conduct patrols or attend to calls for assistance that places them at risk,” he said.

“Any call for assistance is evaluated by our Territory Duty Superintendent and pre-planned arrangements for deployment of staff is conducted.”

The closed stations are among those funded under the National Partnership on NT Remote Aboriginal Investment.

Under the $208 million agreement the stations are not required to be staffed permanently but it is understood they should be staffed the majority of the time.