Minister for Territory Families Ngaree Ah Kit and Police Minister Bret Potter check out the Palmerston Safe Place facilities. Photo: Facebook.
The NT’s Department of Territory Families, Housing and Communities (TFHC) and NT Police will commence a trial where at-risk youth found on the streets of Alice Springs and Palmerston in Darwin at night without a responsible adult will be taken to a safe place.
The trial will see police bring a child to the Alice Springs Police station or a central safe place in Palmerston where they will be cared for by TFHC child protection workers. There, the child protection workers will assess the child’s circumstances and seek to return them to a safe place.
The Territory Government said the increased and immediate availability of child protection staff, rather than using an on-call system, will speed up the process and allow police to get back out on the beat sooner.
This trial is scheduled to run until 4 February 2024. TFHC co-responders will be on duty between 10 pm and 6 am Monday to Thursday and 24/7 from Friday to Sunday and on public holidays.
The trial is in addition to existing funded services and support working across agencies to respond to youth most at-risk in Alice Springs, including Youth Outreach and Re-engagement Teams, 24-hour child protection, On the Right Track and Youth Justice teams across the Territory.
Minister for Territory Families Ngaree Ah Kit said no child is safe wandering the streets in the middle of the night.
“We all have a responsibility to keep kids safe,” she said. “Our co-responder pilot puts specialist staff from TFHC on the ground with police to help manage the complexities of youth crime and anti-social behaviour, and to ensure children and their families are accountable and get the support they need.
“This pilot is part of our coordinated prevention and response to manage the risk of increased crime and anti-social behaviour in Greater Darwin and Central Australia over the summer months.
“We’re working to ensure the most appropriate responses are immediately available to ensure the safety of the community and the wellbeing of children and young people.”
Minister for Police Brent Potter said the trial will free up police resources and allow officers to be back on the road quicker.
“Having our frontline police work hand in hand with Territory Families, Housing and Communities will deliver a better outcome for our young people and will keep our police on the roads and patrolling our streets where we need them,” he said.
“The Territory Labor Government supports our police. I will continue to listen to our frontline police officers and make the changes they have asked for to make their jobs easier and the Territory safer.”
