New NT crime stats show big jump in alcohol-related assaults

People living in Palmerston are more likely to be a target of an alcohol-related assault, as new NT Police statistics reveal a whopping 86 per cent jump in the crime.

PEOPLE living in Palmerston are more likely to be a target of an alcohol-related assault, as new NT Police statistics reveal a whopping 86 per cent jump in the crime.

In the year to April 30, 2021 alcohol-related assaults in Darwin also grew by 34 per cent.

Crime statistics show, across the Territory, there were 4389 incidents in that same time frame, compared to 3219 in the year to April 30, 2020.

NT Police Commander Matt Hollamby said police were working on bolstering alcohol policies as well as supporting the domestic violence unit.

“Assaults have increased in the last 12 months, most notably in Palmerston, and the causal factors continue to be alcohol and domestic violence, and that’s pretty sad, really,” he said.

He called those who assaulted people “cowards”.

In Palmerston, domestic violence related assaults rose by almost 80 per cent from 295 to 527.

Meanwhile, the monthly crime statistics revealed crime against property dropped by 13.65 per cent across the board.

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Cdr Hollamby said the drop in property crime and subsequently the increase in assaults was due to Covid-19 restrictions last year forcing people to stay home.

“Unlawful entries in Darwin and Palmerston were pretty close to zero at the peak of the lockdown mid last year, there has been an increase in that since that time, but we’re still tracking under the year before so that is a positive thing, that there’s less break-ins than last year,” he said.

He said statistics would also always fluctuate, however police were working towards keeping crime at low levels.

“When a crime series or recidivist offender or hot spot pops up, we go pretty hard, pretty fast,” Cdr Hollamby said. “

So, that’s the time when we mount operations … go hard, targeted quickly, with a view to stopping it from getting out of control.

“Crime will always go up and down a little bit, but we’d like it at a low level where it just bounces around a little bit without any radical spikes.”

Cdr Hollamby warned punters heading to the Supercars this weekend there would be a heavy police presence.

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