Northern Territory Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker has defended his and his agency's handling of the NT's ongoing surge in violent crime and said he would not be walking away from the top job.
In a tense interview on ABC Radio Alice Springs, Commissioner Chalker was questioned multiple times about his future, and about if he had done enough during his tenure so far to try to curb rising crime rates.
"I'm not sure which agency or leader has done more, to be honest, to try and tackle things," he said.
"We've looked at all types of approaches on how we can do these things, we've continued to advocate for different approaches to the way things are being done, we've tried to support the law as it stands today.
"If you see the number of people that we've placed into the courts, the number of people that are currently on remand, I'm not sure what test you'd want to apply to us to say we've failed."
When asked about rumours that he was about to step down, he said there was "absolutely no truth to that whatsoever" and that he intended to remain in the role for the years ahead.
The Commissioner's defence of his time at the helm came after a week of anger and grief across the territory, following the recent stabbing death of bottle shop worker Declan Laverty in Darwin.
Last weekend, thousands of people took part in a mass anti-crime rally in Darwin, in response to Mr Laverty’s death, where there were public chants calling for the sacking of Commissioner Chalker.
Long-term Northern Territory Police data shows the jurisdiction is currently dealing with its worst assault rates in at least 15 years.
When asked what was driving these statistics, Commissioner Chalker said "that's the question I keep posing".
"There's clearly social issues that are driving these things, what is the propensity of violence that we continue to see in the Northern Territory, that is not anywhere near as prevalent in societies in other parts of Australia," he said.
"The victimisation rate of Aboriginal females … is a clear and present problem that continues to contribute for us."
Reactions to government’s proposed bail changes
In response to the community sentiment in the wake of Mr Laverty’s death, Chief Minister Natasha Fyles and Attorney-General Chansey Paech yesterday announced new bail law changes, in a bid to stamp out violent knife crime.
Mr Laverty's father, Damian Crook, has said that he supported a strengthening of the NT's bail laws.
Commissioner Chalker said the NT Police completely supported the changes, which would see the presumption of bail refused for anyone alleged to have committed a violent offence with a weapon.
"We've been certainly advising the government in respects of the move to change the presumption of bail on many things," he said.
"We think this is a step in the right direction."
Not everybody has been convinced that the changes are warranted.
The Northern Territory's Legal Aid Commission described the changes as a "knee jerk" that won't change anything.
"The effect of blanket provisions such as these is that they capture people who would ordinarily be deserving of bail," a spokesman said via a statement.
"Making bail laws more restrictive does not in any way address the causes of crime.
"Instead, it simply results in locking up more people and, in particular, those who have not been convicted of any offence."
The bail law amendments could pass into law as soon as today.
