NT Police sleep in swags amid ‘regular attacks’ in remote communities

With no housing available, Territory police have been forced to sleep in swags as they support remote officers facing repeated gang attacks and break-ins.

Northern Territory police have been sleeping in swags while deployed to the remote West Daly region as part of ongoing efforts to quell years of gang violence and unrest.

Police Commissioner Michael Murphy recently revealed emergency response groups had been asked to camp in Peppimenarti, a community about 330km from Darwin.

“At the moment, I’ve got police officers who go out there and actually stay for six weeks to three months,” Mr Murphy said on Friday.

“And the task force operators, they take their swags out with them.

“They don’t look for comfort too much.”

Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said conflicts in the region were “complex, generational and decades-old”. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Mr Murphy visited the troubled town last week as part of an increased police presence which led to the arrest of 10 people.

Community members said the Peppimenarti police station had been broken into six times in the past year.

NT Police Association president Nathan Finn said the police compound in nearby Wadeye had also been repeatedly broken into, “with (alleged) offenders stealing impounded cars and smashing through the perimeter fence on a number of occasions”.

He said the issue of police sleeping in swags was not isolated to Peppimenarti and something the union had been pushing the NT government and senior police executive to address “for years”.

“This is the reality for police sent to Peppimenarti to support the two officers permanently stationed there,” he said.

Damage to Peppimenarti's clinic ambulance and store ute after a group of about 10 Jovi Boys allegedly attacked the clinic, shop and nurses quarters on last Monday night. Picture: Supplied

“There are many remote stations where relieving members receive a camping allowance to sleep in swags, in the absence of suitable accommodation.”

Mr Finn described the Peppimenarti station as a “rusting, rotting shipping container” left over from the Intervention era.

“(It’s) totally lacking adequate security measures to protect our members,” he said.

“What has gone wrong with a community when offenders think it’s acceptable to break into and damage a police compound – where members and their families live?”

Mr Finn said police were “regularly attacked” with axes, machetes, spears and rocks – not just in the West Daly region but across the Territory.

Police Minister Kate Worden was contacted for comment but a government spokesman responded, saying a $19m new station for Peppimenarti was progressing.

Members of Peppimenarti's notorious Jovi Boys gang. Picture: Supplied

“The new Peppimenarti permanent police complex will include a new contemporary police station, detention facilities, government employee housing and visiting officers’ quarters to support a permanent police presence in Peppimenarti,” he said.

“Discussions are well underway between the NT government and land council to identify an appropriate site for the new station.

“Following the identification of a site, work on design and construction processes can then begin.

“There is currently a review into police resourcing underway which includes assessing staffing at remote stations.”

NT Police Association president Nathan Finn said it also was not clear if more police would be permanently stationed in Peppimenarti once the new station was built. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Mr Finn said while the new station would be welcomed, construction was not expected to start until the second half of next year.

“If (the) government considered remote policing investment a priority, it would have built the Peppimenarti complex years ago, instead of spending $13m on a police station in the Chief Minister’s electorate that is nothing more than glorified office space, with no frontline response capabilities,” he said.

NT Police has previously refused to confirm any details about break-ins at the Peppimenarti police compound and when asked again on Tuesday, a spokeswoman said they would “aim” to respond later in the week.