The Northern Territory Police Force has moved to reassure Territorians that new public safety officers have done sufficient training to carry guns and make arrests during incidents involving both antisocial behaviour and serious violence, despite having a shorter training period than constables.
The Territory Labor opposition has expressed concern that the officers, who receive 18 weeks’ training rather than the 32 weeks a constable receives, will be operating armed from today in high crime areas, including at public housing estates and on the bus network.
NT Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Brendan Muldoon said the Police Public Safety Officers (PPSOs) had been trained in everything a constable is trained in, except carrying out serious crime investigations, which they will not be asked to do.
Brendan Muldoon says PPSOs will be out patrolling rather than in stations doing paperwork. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)
“They are trained fully in the use of firearms and all their accoutrements, they are trained fully in the use of force, they are trained fully in the Summary Offences Act, they are trained fully in how to arrest people,” he said.
“What we haven’t trained them in is how to go on and investigate those offences, so we don’t want them back at the police station being tied up doing paperwork, putting files before the courts.
“We want them intervening early so that the matters don’t turn into those files and those really, really serious offences, so that’s why their training is shorter.”
Opposition MLA Chansey Paech is among Aboriginal leaders who have raised concerns that introducing armed officers with shorter training than constables into flashpoint antisocial behaviour settings that often involve Indigenous people with complex problems could risk more harm.
NT Police says having more visible policing in cities and towns will reduce crime overall. (Supplied: NT Police)
Acting Assistant Commissioner Muldoon said the intention of the new class of officer was to use visible policing to help stop antisocial behaviour escalating into violent crime.
“They will be dedicated to addressing social order issues across the Territory, something that we in the Territory experience quite frequently,” he said.
“We want them out on the street, intervening early, tipping out alcohol, addressing people who are causing antisocial behaviour — they’ll be highly visible, we want the public to see them, we want the public to feel safe.”
He said a recent operation in Palmerston, which had devoted more police officers to patrolling public places, had dramatically reduced the number of antisocial behaviour incidents turning into more serious violent crimes.
NT Police says PPSOs will focus on duties like pouring out alcohol at the many temporary drinking camps in city streets and parks. (ABC News: Jane Bardon)
“We had 30 to 40 calls per service in Palmerston every day, all day, and we could never get on top of them. During the six weeks that [Operation] Ventura has been operating, the calls for service have dropped down to single figures, and at one stage it was zero,” he said.
Twenty-one PPSOs graduated from their training on Friday.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Muldoon said 96 officers would graduate each year, until the contingent reached a total of 212 members “in about three or four years”.
They will replace NT government-employed public housing safety officers, transit officers, police officers who guard bottle shops to reduce illegal sales and police auxiliaries who have traditionally worked at station front counters.
The first group of 21 PPSOs graduated on Friday ahead of their first shift today. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
Acting Assistant Commissioner Muldoon said PPSOs would also eventually stop the force having to fund private security companies to patrol urban areas, including the Darwin city centre, to reduce antisocial behaviour.
But he said creating the new class of officer was not intended to be a cost-saving measure.
He also said while none of the newly graduated PPSOs were Indigenous, the force would work hard to recruit Indigenous people to the positions in future.
Other state police forces have armed officers patrolling their public transport hubs, including protective services officers in Victoria and general duties and rapid response unit patrols in New South Wales.
NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the Territory’s public safety officers would focus on preventing crime and antisocial behaviour in Darwin, Palmerston, Alice Springs and Katherine.
“This Police Public Safety Officer stream will provide a new way to community police, and it means a highly visible, highly engaged force, gives our constables the opportunity to be doing that other important work, so they have very different roles,” she said.
