‘I’m worried thieves will continue to return’: Business cry out for help amid crime spike

DARWIN’S latest crime wave has prompted urgent calls for NT Police’s city watch house to finally reopen

DARWIN’S latest crime wave has prompted urgent calls from the hospitality industry for NT Police’s city watch house to finally reopen after a seven-month closure.

The Darwin City Police Watch House, located on Knuckey St, closed on June 16, 2020, as police got sent out to man the NT border.

The Territory has since deactivated all of its road border checkpoints, but NT Police still haven’t reopened the Darwin CBD watch house.

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Hospitality NT boss Alex Bruce urgently wants the watch house to reopen to improve police response times.

NT Police Association president Paul McCue said reopening it would free up significant periods of time police currently spend driving to Palmerston to process arrests.

NT Police Acting Commander Daniel Shean said reopening the watch house was an “operational decision” they were currently considering.

Mr Bruce raised concerns after several Darwin businesses were targeted by thieves this week during a spate of significant break-ins.

The Darwin watch house is closed due to COVID-19 and as a result pressure has been put on the Palmerston watch house with police having to travel longer to book and process prisoners. Photograph: Che Chorley

Yogi’s Way in Stuart Park, Exotic North Indian Cuisine in Cullen Bay, Hungry Jacks in Casuarina and Covai Cafe in Palmerston were all left with hefty clean-up bills yesterday after being broken into overnight.

The night before, thieves also targeted the Outback Steaks and Curry, Char Restaurant, Good Times Bar and Grill and Berry Springs Tavern, stealing more than $10,000 worth of items.

Co-owner of the Exotic North Indian Cuisine, Rajwinder Singh, also wants police to reopen the city watch house urgently.

“I’m worried thieves will continue to return if they feel like they can easily get away with breaking in again,” he said.

The Exotic North Indian Cuisine restaurant has become the latest business to fall victim to a spate of recent break-ins and booze thefts around Darwin. Co-owner Rajwinder Singh says they won't be claiming the damage on their insurance because it pushes the premium up. Photograph: Che Chorley

“Unfortunately the last time we were broken into authorities never found the culprit.”

Mr McCue said while reopening the city watch house would help improve police response times, the crux of the issue was low staff numbers.

“The response times have very little to do with morale,” he said.

“It is simply due to a shortage of available response vans.

Yogi's Way owner Yogi Bhairab has been left with the clean up bill after the thieves smashed in the front door. Photograph: Che Chorley

“We keep hearing there are more police employed than ever before, well we want to know where they are because still struggling to get more than two vans per shift in a sector is not good enough in the current environment.”

Police Minister Nicole Manison responded by saying that the Gunner government had put more police on the beat than ever before.

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“Any crime is unacceptable, and there is no excuse for it, and that’s why we are investing in record numbers of police with a record budget,” she said.

“We have also introduced Biz Secure – a range of permanent security improvements to better protect business against the risk of break-ins.”