‘No opportunities for frontline policing’: Chief Minister condemns $12m Nightcliff Police Station

It promised a 24/7 police presence, but the CLP now says Labor’s Nightcliff Police Station is a white elephant so unfit for purpose it will never be able to deliver.

Nightcliff Police Station on Progress Drive. Picture: Glenn Campbell

The Chief Minister has poured cold water on Labor’s promise of a 24/7 police presence in Nightcliff, saying its $12m police station is a white elephant so unfit for purpose it cannot support increased policing.

Lia Finocchiaro on Wednesday said the station was “nothing more than a glorified office block” that did not contain any holding cells or watch house facilities.

“Territorians shouldn’t be left under the illusion that somehow it will be able to increase its policing capacity,” Mrs Finocchiaro said.

“It’s a building that’s not fit for purpose. It can’t be a highly operational building because it’s a glorified office space.

“It is not in any way that you could describe a police station, except for the oversized sign that Natasha Fyles hung out the front.

“There’s no opportunities for police to undertake actual front line policing from there.”

Former Chief Minister and Nightcliff MLA Ms Fyles was a driving force behind the station being built, promising a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week general duties police station to improve community safety in the northern suburbs.

Nightcliff Police Station generic. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The station, which opened in 2021, now houses the Territory Safety Division, school-based auxiliaries, and a Neighbourhood Watch NT admin office.

A front counter operates during business hours on weekdays.

Residents of a Nightcliff social housing complex built just metres from the police station expressed frustration at a lack of police presence in the area, after waking on Tuesday to find 10 car windscreens had been smashed overnight.

Nightcliff and the Coconut Grove area have become a trouble hotspot with residents complaining of frequent violent, anti-social behaviour.

There has been a number of reports of fights and cars attacked in the Nightcliff Woolworths shopping centre carpark and incidents of rock throwing at vehicles in nearby arterial roads.

Just days ago two men were charged after an alleged firearm attack in which a man was shot in both legs.

Originally published as ‘No opportunities for frontline policing’: Chief Minister condemns $12m Nightcliff Police Station