An attempt to set up a Territory Police Review Committee (TPRC) narrowly failed in the Legislative Assembly. Opposition Leader Terry Mills moved the establishment of a select committee for a wide ranging inquiry into the force. Explaining the proposal , Mills , whose party includes four ex police officers, said the issue of numbers in the service had been “ a flashpoint “ in the House. His side believed it was one of the areas where the government relied on spin, obfuscation and old fashioned chicanery to maintain a position not substantiated by the facts.
With wide ranging powers, the TPRC would have looked into police numbers , their deployment in special units and general duties , overtime and the number needed to improve law and order in the Territory. Work practices, resources , the relationship with the Australian Federal Police and the effectiveness of Aboriginal Community Police Officers and auxiliary officers were also listed for examination. The proposed TPRC would report back to the Assembly by August 2010. Deep, genuine analysis of the force was needed , Mills claimed.
Chief Minister Paul Henderson,also the Police Minister , said the government would not support the motion on the grounds that the proposed TPRC would confer the powers of running the police force to a parliamentary committee rather than the police commissioner and went against the separation of powers. He maintained the TPRC would open up a “ total witch hunt ,”providing an outlet for aggrieved persons to front the committee.
Mr William Westra van Holthe (Katherine ) , a former police officer, said the people of the Northern Territory should be concerned that their Police Minister had such a poor understanding of the operations of the Northern Territory Police Force. The Chief Minister had said since 2001 there were 339 extra police officers in the Northern Territory.
Chief Minister Paul Henderson,also the Police Minister , said the government would not support the motion on the grounds that the proposed TPRC would confer the powers of running the police force to a parliamentary committee rather than the police commissioner and went against the separation of powers. He maintained the TPRC would open up a “ total witch hunt ,”providing an outlet for aggrieved persons to front the committee.
Mr William Westra van Holthe (Katherine ) , a former police officer, said the people of the Northern Territory should be concerned that their Police Minister had such a poor understanding of the operations of the Northern Territory Police Force. The Chief Minister had said since 2001 there were 339 extra police officers in the Northern Territory.
“Where on earth are they ? " he asked. Over the period of 2001 until now, there had not been an increase in the number of general duties patrols on the road at any police station in the Northern Territory. " For example, Casuarina has had two general duties patrols since 2001, and that has not changed; Katherine has had two general duties patrols since 2001, and that has not changed. That theme is repeated right across the whole of the Northern Territory. Just on that basis alone, it is absolutely necessary to have a review, for accountability’s sake, so the people of the Northern Territory know what they are getting out of this government, and find out just where those 339 extra police are. Every time I talk to police officers, and still do on a very regular basis, the cry I hear from them is they are so over-worked , that many of them are becoming burnt-out. They have seen no increase in the number of general duties officers on patrol, and their overtime continues at extremely high rates. I was talking to a police officer not more than half an hour ago, and that police officer informed me that in the last fortnight she did 20 hours of overtime, and it is common for police officers still to do 20, 30 or 40 hours of overtime in a fortnight. "
There simply were not enough general duties police officers to go around. “That is why I believe the Chief Minister is completely missing the point here - we need to know were our police officers are.” He said there were five computer systems used to track where police officers are in the Northern Territory: Staff Plan, PIPS, Personnel and Information Payroll System, or something similar to that, MYHR , and the operational systems, Promis and IJIS. Staff Plan ,the main , over-arching HR ( human resources ) computer system in the Northern Territory Police Force, contained a “very confusing” array of categories of where police officers were and what they were doing. Police officers could be allocated an actual position, a nominal position, a supernumerary position, or could be paid inoperative or unpaid inoperative
There simply were not enough general duties police officers to go around. “That is why I believe the Chief Minister is completely missing the point here - we need to know were our police officers are.” He said there were five computer systems used to track where police officers are in the Northern Territory: Staff Plan, PIPS, Personnel and Information Payroll System, or something similar to that, MYHR , and the operational systems, Promis and IJIS. Staff Plan ,the main , over-arching HR ( human resources ) computer system in the Northern Territory Police Force, contained a “very confusing” array of categories of where police officers were and what they were doing. Police officers could be allocated an actual position, a nominal position, a supernumerary position, or could be paid inoperative or unpaid inoperative
The Northern Territory Police Association had publicly commented on these types of issues. In fact, they had also called for a review of police officers in the Northern Territory because, quite frankly, they could not get a clear indication of where all the police officers were on any given day in the Northern Territory. "And it is not because the Commissioner will not tell them, and I pick up on the things the Chief Minister said about the Commissioner today, but, in fact, the Commissioner does not even know. That is the bottom line. The Commissioner does not know where all his police officers are because he does not have access to a computer system that will actually tell him, because those systems are so convoluted that you cannot actually pluck the information from it.”
The fact that the number of police on general duties had not increased since 2001 was telling, but there were moves afoot to actually reduce the number of patrols on the street. A case in point was Katherine where there had been talk from senior management that the town did not need to have two police patrols on duty on a 24/7 basis. That, at 5 o’clock in the morning, on a Monday morning, for example, there was no need to have two general duties police patrols on the street. “ I wholeheartedly disagree with them. With due deference to all the good work that our public service do, they are a hard working bunch of people, and I take my hat off to them, but let me say this, policing is a unique career. If a crisis happens in the Department of Housing, all they do is sharpen their pencils and away they go. If a crisis happens in an area that falls within the purview of the police force, it is bullet proof vests on, guns ready, let us go. That makes policing a unique experience; a unique job, and you cannot be a slave to looking at the number of police on the road, without taking into account occupational health and safety issues. Now, without the backup of a second patrol.”
In light of the government’s opposition to the TPRC ,Opposition Leader Mills pondered what the government’s attitude would have been had Gerry Wood moved the motion for a TPRC . The motion was lost 12 votes to 13.
Strangely, this debate, which included mention of the large recent public meeting at Palmerston called by the mayor to voice concerns about law and order , attended by the Chief Minister and senior police officers , was not reported by the media . Little Darwin readers will recall that we broke the news that a fire fighter who attended the Palmerston meeting had been issued a please explain for wearing his uniform to the gathering , a fact not chased up by the fourth estate which likes to trumpet it is a defender of the masses.
