“Reducing crime is my top priority and we will work tirelessly to improve community safety right across the Territory,” NT Chief Minister Eva Lawler said in an announcement on April 3.
Youth crime in NT is fueled by socioeconomic disadvantage, substance abuse, family dysfunction, and historical and cultural factors that disproportionately affects Indigenous youth, who are overrepresented in the state’s justice system.
Efforts to address youth crime in NT have included early intervention and diversionary programs and community engagement initiatives.
However, challenges remain in effectively addressing the root causes of youth crime, with the latest figures showing violent offences by 12- to 17-year-olds are at their highest recorded level since 2016.
The announcement to swell police numbers comes amid a curfew imposed on March 29 in Alice Springs that bans all children under 18, excluding those with a valid reason, from the town’s Central Business District between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. for the next two weeks.
The curfew was put in place in an attempt to quell civil unrest and stem a concentrated crime wave plaguing the town.
A violent attack involving 70 youths upon a pub called the Todd Tavern was triggered by a memorial service for a teenager who was killed in a traffic incident on March 8.
“We saw … really violent behaviour yesterday associated with the death of an 18-year-old male. That’s led to family feuds and that’s what erupted in Alice Springs yesterday,” Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said on March 26.
The damage inflicted on the pub was widely publicised on social media, prompting Ms. Lawler to declare a state of emergency for Alice Springs, bringing in over 50 additional police and liquor inspectors and granting special powers under the Emergency Management Act 2013.
Recruitment Drive in the Works
NT is often seen as a hard area to recruit experienced police staff. NT police operate an accelerated recruitment program that targets officers already hardened to the rigours of the job.Traditionally sourced from other areas of Australia, along with the UK and New Zealand packages offer up to $20,000 (US$13,100) in relocation assistance and salaries upwards of $118,000 for a 10-year veteran.
Ms. Lawler said $200 million was earmarked to help cover the recruitment and a new drive will kick off after May’s budget is delivered.
“Investing more in the Northern Territory Police Force so they can have the right amount of officers available to combat crime each day is a key plank of my common sense plan to lower crime,” Ms. Lawler said.
“We back our hardworking police and that’s why we are going to make sure more officers than ever are out patrolling our streets.”
