Martin Dole appointed commissioner of the NT Police Force

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Deputy Commissioner Martin Dole has been appointed Commissioner of the Northern Territory Police Force, drawing a long-running saga around the position to a close. The appointment follows the sacking of former Police Commissioner Michael Murphy and an external review into senior appointments made within the NT Police. Martin Dole is the 15th Commissioner of the NT Police Force and assumes the title amid an ongoing tough-on-crime crackdown from the northern territory government.

Transcript

00:00He might be new to this role of police commissioner of the Northern Territory, but Mardin Dole

00:06certainly isn't a new face to police officers or the government up here in the NT.

00:11He's been a police officer here for nearly 30 years, is currently the deputy commissioner

00:15of the police and for the past seven months since former commissioner Michael Murphy was

00:19sacked he's actually been acting in that role of police commissioner.

00:23Now it's interesting to note he's also the first police commissioner from Alice Springs.

00:28Plenty of fanfare was made about his status as a Central Australian during the announcement

00:32of his appointment this morning.

00:33The announcement was made from Alice Springs and used as something of a segue to talk about

00:38the heavy policing measures which would be implemented in Central Australia later this year.

00:43Now while the government will certainly be happy to see stability in this space, it's important

00:47to note that this has been anything but a stable position over the past couple of years.

00:52In fact Mardin Dole is the 15th Northern Territory police commissioner and he's also the third

00:56police officer to hold this role in just the past three years.

01:00Territorians will remember we had former police commissioner Jamie Chalker resign in April

01:04of 2023 amid growing concerns about crime in the community.

01:08And former police commissioner Michael Murphy, as mentioned, was actually sacked after an anti-corruption

01:13investigation found that he had helped friends fulfil top roles in the Northern Territory

01:17police force in April this year.

01:20It's largely because of the way in which Murphy was dismissed that it's taken so long for Mardin Dole

01:24to be appointed.

01:26Now after Michael Murphy was sacked, the government commissioned former Tasmanian Chief Justice

01:30Alan Blow to undertake an external review of these high ranking appointments in the Northern

01:36Territory police force.

01:37Now the findings of that review were handed down just last week and Alan Blow essentially

01:42found that everyone appointed to those upper echelons of the Northern Territory police force

01:47had the qualifications and had the experience in order to fulfil the roles appropriately.

01:52He did find that there was a significant body of opinion that those promotions and the appointments

01:56made during that time were influenced by favouritism and bias and that at the end of the day he

02:01had no way of determining if the appointments or those people appointed were the best people

02:05for the role.

02:06Now that report made six key recommendations.

02:08Here's what Chief Minister Leah Finocchiaro had to say about that this morning.

02:12We want this to be a line in the sand.

02:14We know things can be better and they will be better and Commissioner Dole has absolutely

02:18committed to me that he would deliver those six reforms and we will do them swiftly and so

02:22we will have more to say about that soon.

02:25Commissioner Dole has been appointed on those principles.

02:28This is about merit.

02:29This is about merit for the role and merit for the rank.

02:32This is about having someone who can not only do the job but activate the force to be able

02:37to deliver on the expectations of our community.

02:40We're certainly coming to the pointy end of the year when it comes to crime and community

02:44safety here in the Territory.

02:46Now historically crime and incarceration rates have undulated on a seasonal basis going up

02:51in the summery months or the wet season as it's known up here in Darwin and then down

02:56in the wintry months or the dry season.

02:58Now incarceration rates have veered from that path a bit and just gone exponentially upward

03:03since about 2022 but the same is still very much true for crime and especially so in regions

03:09and regional centres such as Alice Springs.

03:12Here's what soon to be Police Commissioner Martin Dole said about the efforts in Alice Springs

03:16in the upcoming months this morning.

03:18Summer comes around every year and with summer we see a traditional spike in activity and demand

03:24on resourcing for police services.

03:26And can I just assure you we're ready and we're prepared for that.

03:30We're building on the success of Operation Ludlow last year.

03:34We've got the same amount of resources dedicated to Operation Ludlow and that's supplemented

03:38by the Fugitive Task Force, Dog Operations Unit, Mounted Unit and Southern Traffic Operations

03:44that the general public is going to see activity increase from those units in the coming months.

03:49In the coming weeks you're going to see further notifications from the police, further social

03:54media notifications from us and more communication as we move into the busy months that is summer

04:00in Central Australia.

04:01So there's been plenty of reforms in this space over the past year with the CLP coming

04:06to government on a tough on crime platform.

04:08In fact, while Martin Dole has been acting Commissioner, we've also seen the introduction of Prepper

04:12Spray, the introduction of gun carrying police public safety officers in public housing and

04:16on public transport.

04:17And now we're heading into the period of the year where crime does tend to surge especially

04:22in our regional centres.

04:23So it will be relief for the government around this announcement but there's no shortage of challenges

04:28facing Martin Dole in his new role.

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