The NT Government's approach on crime is working because home break-ins in Katherine are at a three-year low, Parliament was told yesterday.
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The Opposition quickly disputed the numbers saying home break-ins in Katherine, comparing the years 2014-15 to 2018-19, are actually up 54 per cent.
Police Minister Nicole Manison gave the three-year low statistic for Katherine in answer to repeated questions on the Government's approach on crime in NT Parliament yesterday.
Ms Manison said on Friday police will be releasing the latest crime statistics from the August period.
"We will see some trends down in the area of crime because there has been a huge amount of work happening, location by location, place by place, targeting the key factors of crime," Ms Manison told Parliament.
She said Darwin is at a four-year-low for commercial break-ins, Palmerston is at a three-year-low for house break-ins and at a five-year-low for commercial break-ins.
"I commend the amazing work in Katherine under Commander Michael Hebb and his wonderful team, Superintendents Shean and Kennon and Senior Sergeant Brad Fox. We are seeing three-year-lows in house break-ins," Ms Manison said.
Opposition deputy leader Lia Finocchiaro said when you compare 2014-15 to 2018-19, house break-ins across the Territory are up 39.5 per cent and commercial break-ins are up 51.1 per cent.
In Katherine, house break-ins are up by 53.8 per cent and commercial break-ins are up by 154.8 per cent. she said.
Police have said in recent months the number of commercial break-ins in Katherine is trending down.
Ms Manison said 60 new police had started training and some of them would be heading to Katherine.
"They will go through 30 weeks of training and go to Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine and the regional and remote areas," she told parliament.
Ms Manison also highlighted the cross-agency success of Operation Pelion in Katherine.
She said local police were "working together cross-agency, they know their non-government organisations, the offenders, their history and where they live-are they in Don Dale, are they out?"
"Are they going to certain programs in town? Have they been attending school? They target them one by one. We have seen this work happen in Tennant Creek through Operation Tier. In Darwin we have launched Strike Force Orion to work with those offenders through a cross-agency response to target offenders so that they face up to the consequences of their actions.
"If they are coming out of a stint in Don Dale, we are making sure we have a greater level of case management for them. If we see them demonstrating that-if there is a recidivist offender or someone has caused great amounts of trouble and they have younger siblings, we get in there early to make sure those siblings do not follow the same path as the older sibling."
Ms Finocchiaro told Parliament yesterday: "There is no question that our issues of crime are contributing to people leaving the Territory.
"We cannot afford to lose a single Territorian to interstate or overseas. Our economy is dependent on keeping the few people we have left and growing our population and economy, not losing more people because they have had enough.
"They feel that the government is not listening to them or addressing their concerns and they are leaving."
Katherine MLA Sandra Nelson also spoke during the debate in Parliament yesterday and said any individual, family or group who are marginalised either socially, economically or politically, are at greater risk of offending and facing the criminal justice system.
In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are over-represented in the criminal justice system. They make up 27% of the adult prison population but are only 2.8% of the overall population, she said.
"Indigenous people are being imprisoned at a rate 13 times greater than non-Indigenous people. The statistics are even worse for juveniles, with 55% of young people in custody being Aboriginal," Ms Nelson said.
"People do have a right to feel safe in their own home and they get angry and scared when they witness or are victims of crime. And they want to see that those who commit crimes are punished appropriately. Nobody on this side of the government has ever argued against people having that right to feel safe, being angry and upset and wanting to see that those who commit crimes are dealt with appropriately.
"Unfortunately, the dominant narrative here in the Northern Territory is that crime is increasing, as we heard today. That the government is not being tough enough; that the police are hampered in their ability to punish offenders; that most crime is committed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; and that they are not being held accountable. Most disturbing is the public discourse on social media in regards to, often some very young, offenders.
"I want to share with you a comment posted on the Facebook page, Katherine and NT Issues. This has been shared with me via my electorate office because I am not a member of that Facebook group. This comment was in response to some people jumping a fence into someone's property in Katherine. I was going to directly quote it but there are some words in this quote that are very un-parliamentary and offensive so I will not directly quote it:
"You need to injury one of the [beep beep] and hang it on your fence as a deterrent to keep other evolutionary robbed scum away."
Ms Nelson said the Facebook comment in relation to crime and Aboriginal people in Katherine was not uncommon.
"What has it come to when people feel justified in advocating violence, and usually against children? If we were to look at other countries with a similar history of invasion and colonisation, we see exactly the same contemporary problem of Indigenous peoples' interactions with the criminal justice system.
"Our government has put in place major reforms aimed at supporting families to positively impact the next generation. We are investing in children and families to tackle the causes of crime and antisocial behaviour through a plan to combat alcohol abuse and support families in important early childhood years through to adulthood.
"It is true that many outcomes may not be seen in the time of this government, but we strongly believe that to make real and lasting difference we need to move beyond a simple, punitive punishment model in response to crime. Previous governments and policy makers have often chosen a one-size-fits-all approach to youth crime prevention. There has been enough research to question the efficiency of such singular solutions and the current statistics on rates of incarceration for Aboriginal people speak to this failure.
"In the Northern Territory, 97% of children in custody are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. There is compelling evidence that the biggest predictor of offending as an adult is being in the criminal justice system as a child. In July of this year, the Territory Labor government released its 'back on track: cutting youth crime' plan. The rollout of the program is the most extensive suite of measures ever put in place in the Northern Territory to address the issue of young offenders.
"At the primary level we need to look at putting in place strategies that address situational crime prevention and social crime prevention. Situational prevention strategies reduce opportunities for crime by modifying the physical environment. That is the reality of today. We need to lock our doors. Let us just do that. Of course, it also includes putting in more CCTV cameras in hotspots and offering grants to assist businesses in upgrading security. These are the ways that this government is changing the environment to reduce opportunistic crime.
"We are also investing in our police force to provide the frontline presence and contemporary resources they need to target crime and antisocial behaviour and to direct their focus to where it is needed the most. Secondary measures provide alternative activities to encourage youth away from peer groups of activities that may normalise criminal behaviour. This would include youth clubs and other supervised activities and events.
"We have seen a significant investment in new youth after-hours programs that includes regional youth program coordinators, holiday programs and after-hours programs for young people. At the very next level, we are targeting also first offenders and those who have committed minor crimes to keep them out of the criminal justice system.
"My government has engaged 65 youth outreach and re-engagement officers to work with young offenders and at-risk families. We have invested over $20m into diversion and alternative sentencing programs targeted at preventing offending and re-offending and getting young people's lives back on track, just as the name suggests, by changing the offending behaviour and creating consequences for their actions.
"Finally, I want to challenge the notion that we have not been effective in preventing crime and that criminal activity is increasing in the Northern Territory. NT crime statistics, prepared from data prepared by the NT Police, was released on 9 October. The report showed that for the year ending 2019, overall crime against persons had dropped 14% compared to the previous crime; point of sale interventions also increased with the increased number of police auxiliary liquor inspectors continuing to have a positive impact on community safety.
"In Katherine, Acting Commander Daniel Shean, says there has been a reduction in alcohol-related violence that is evident in communities and also reflected in the data with assaults reduced by 13% and offences against persons down by 14%. There have been some great successes with some youth who have benefitted from the interagency case management group. Huge successes in fact. This initiative, which is made up of all government agencies in Katherine, provides case management for high-risk youth to prevent them from re-offending.
"I want to put on record today a couple of successes that have happened in Katherine over the last few months all through the investments of this government, financially as well as putting in resources and support. The Kalano Youth Outreach and Transport Service has been operating since July of this year. They work three nights a week, on average picking up between 150 to 200 youth during those three nights. They provide safe transportation for kids to get home or to get somebody's safe house if needed.While they are doing that they also engaging with the kids that out there after hours. They are also doing things like organising midnight basketball games, barbecues in the park and movie showings. They are actively engaging with kids three nights a week.
"I put on record my congratulations and thanks to the Blue Eagle in Katherine for the work it is doing in providing opportunities for kids to engage, learn martial arts and get a good feed.
"Deadly Cuts have done an amazing job, and I thank them for all their passionate contribution to the community. The kids love going there. It is a great place to hang out. While they are hanging out, they are also learning and interacting with positive adult models.
"All the members of the community who believe in restorative justice ethos and are putting it into practice are doing an amazing job. I am so proud of Katherine. It continues to be the beacon in these issues and I look forward to continuing to support it," Ms Nelson said.
The Property Council of Australia NT Division today said it was concerned about recent reports of property related crime and its potential impact on property investment and population growth initiatives.
Property Council of Australia's NT Executive Director Ruth Palmer said that we all need to work hard to sell the message that the Territory is a great place to invest, live, work and play.
"Property related crime and break-ins are costing all Territorians. It is only further exasperating the current difficult and tough economic conditions.
"While we acknowledge and support the Government's underlying policy intention, we believe that there are shortcomings in the current process concerning high volume repeat offenders that needs to be addressed.
"Currently, the system is not meeting business and community expectations.
"There needs to be opportunity for diversionary programs. However, there also needs to be consequences for repeat offenders.
"These repeat offenders should not be offered the same opportunity for diversionary programs nor generous bail conditions.
"We need to send a strong message that property related crime by repeat offenders will not be tolerated in the Territory.
"We need to find a balanced, pragmatic and responsible solution for all to this very difficult and deepseated problem."
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