MANDORAH POLICING PROBLEMS

Like Palmerston , Nightcliff and many other centres, Mandorah , across the harbour , has a law and order problem which has virtually gone unnoticed by the city media .

Fortunately, it has a local monthly newspaper, Wagaitear, also available online, edited by veteran reporter Jack Ellis, with many years’ NT experience , to fight for Cox Peninsula . He’s so brave, he still umpires Darwin footy matches, something Russell Crowe would not do , even if armed with a long handled trident. Without fear or favour - and a dash of humour- Wagaitear covers an area with a population of about 600, including 140 at Belyuen Aboriginal community.

The Mandorah area receives police rural patrols from time to time , mainly from Humpty Doo Police Station , 100kms away, a distance which can be covered in 45 minutes in an emergency. It is supposed to receive six patrols a week, but this ,for various reasons, is often not the case . In the seven and half years Ellis has lived at Mandorah , he believes six patrols were only achieved in one week , just recently, after he raised the law and order issue in his publication.

Like a good journo should, Ellis goes all the way to the top for answers . In the process , he comes up against many spin doctors, whom he is on record as saying he eats before tucking into his petit dejeuner muesli . This is a quaint way of saying he will not be put off- as shown by his dogged pursuit in the following episode

The May 1 edition of Wagaitear carried a front page story, POLICE “COP OUT” which said the “ a stubborn refusal” by police to establish a permanent presence on Cox Peninsula was disadvantaging growing numbers of residents at “ dry ” Belyuen. Since intervention, it said, the lack of police had seen a flood of spirits and cheap wine from Darwin , resulting in an increase in abuse, swearing, fighting, drunken and anti-social behavior, mainly around the Mandorah jetty. Anecdotal information from Belyuen ,where no one was game to be quoted , indicated the same sort of problems . The paper said for 18 months the Indigenous Affairs Minister ,Jenny Macklin, via the NT Police Department , had maintained the peninsula was adequately policed from Palmerston and Humpty Doo. Clearly, it is not, Ellis wrote.

Police Commissioner Paul White was asked to explain the situation which had deteriorated into a “ virtual free for all “, and why officers were not based where they could promptly respond. The officer in charge of Palmerston was delegated to give a reply . Said Ellis : “ How a regional senior officer - however competent – was expected to answer policy questions directed to the Commissioner borders on the ridiculous.” When the delegated officer was not available, Ellis asked Police Minister Paul Henderson for a response. According to the Wagaitear report, this resulted in an immediate response : the police said they could not comment because the matter was now in the Minister’s hands. There was no answer from Mr Henderson , but the media unit provided info on two brawls, one at the Narrows( in Darwin ) and the other at Mandorah , said to be linked .

The June 1 edition of Wagaitear contains additional information from police headquarters saying police had held a meeting at Belyuen with “ key stakeholders” to discuss alcohol abuse issues . Wagaitear was informed “ We are exploring options to increase the value of the police presence by obtaining access to permanent overnight accommodation and office facilities.”

The paper went on to say the Belyuen Night Patrol members deal with drunks on a nightly basis and face abuse from people they refuse to transport while they carry alcohol. These patrol officers are not allowed to speak with the media about the level of assistance they get from the police or the problems they face on a nightly basis . Ellis makes it abundantly clear he does not blame the police on the beat for the situation- it is a cluster of key people at the top who cannot see the obvious solution and put it into action.

FOOTNOTE : From time to time , Mandorah is plagued by hoons who arrive from Darwin or elsewhere and roar around the streets. On one occasion, the residents formed a blockade of vehicles, the keys of the offending car were grabbed and the driver told that if he did not depart the area rapidly he would have to swim for the keys in the harbour. The failure of law and order drives people to desperate measures

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