NT Police deny that a summer crime strategy to remove kids off the street is a curfew
Territory kids enjoying their holiday evenings may be questioned by police in a move cops have denied is a summer ‘curfew’.
Police & Courts
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Police have denied that a new summer crime strategy is a de facto curfew on young Territorians.
On Friday new Territory Families Minister Ngaree Ah Kit and Police Minister Brent Potter announced that young people without an adult could be taken off the streets in Alice Springs and Greater Darwin in a trial program that will run until February.
Ms Ah Kit said a new Police and Territory Families co-responder model would place child protection workers at the Alice Springs police station and a Safe Place in Palmerston for the next two months.
The summer trial program meant that if police had concerns for a child seen without a responsible adult, they could take them to the station or Safe Place in the care of a Territory Families staff member.
Ms Ah Kit said the children would be assessed by Territory Families workers, before they were returned to a safe place, and each kid would receive a follow up the next day.
Ms Ah Kit said the child would only be transported if a responsible adult could not be quickly located.
“No child is safe wandering the streets in the middle of the night,” she said.
Ms Ah Kit said by placing Territory Families workers “on the ground” with police, it would help manage the complexities of youth crime.
The Territory Families’ project comes despite a 40 per cent vacancy rate within their child protection unit, according to evidence given at an ongoing domestic violence coronial inquest.
Mr Potter said he hoped that by replacing the current ‘on-call system’ with child protection workers at the station would take some of the burden off police.
“This trial program will free up police resources and allow our frontline officers to be back on the road patrolling our communities quicker,” Mr Potter said.
On Monday assistant commissioner Travis Wurst said the co-response model would provide a more efficient way to deal with at-risk kids, despite police now responsible for transporting kids who are not accused of any crimes.
“It’s an opportunity to make sure that vulnerable young people who are found on the street are able to be placed back into a place of safety and care as quickly as possible,” Mr Wurst said.
“(It’s) for their safety, for the safety of the community and allow police to be able to get back onto the street as quickly as possible.”
He also denied it was a “curfew”, despite the program meaning children would be questioned by cops for being outside at night.
“If we can take those young people back to their homes, they will be,” Mr Wurst said.
Mr Wurst said police would evaluate the circumstances before transporting kids, with a 17-year-old to be treated differently to “a six-year-old child on the street at two o’clock in the morning”.
Mr Wurst was unsure how much money had been allocated to the program.
The latest NTPFES annual report said kids under 17-years-old made up 14.7 per cent of all offender apprehensions in the Territory.
This is lower than the youth offending rate of the previous three years.
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