The Northern Territory government has welcomed federal support to address violent crime in Alice Springs. An infant is in hospital in Adelaide after being seriously injured during a home invasion in the town yesterday. The territory's Chief Minister and police Commissioner are in Alice Springs holding talks to figure out how to respond.
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00:00Yesterday afternoon, around 2.30pm, two teenagers aged 16 and 17 allegedly broke into a house
00:10in the suburb of Larrapinta, which police have said was occupied by a mother and her
00:15four children.
00:16They have said that the mother and the two-month-old infant sustained serious injuries from a metal
00:24bar that was used as part of this aggravated burglary in the home.
00:30The mother and the infant have been flown to Royal Adelaide Hospital.
00:35The infant sustained a fracture to the skull but is recovering.
00:41They have said that it's not just this incident but a range of other incidents that have been
00:47escalating in seriousness and violence in recent weeks, and they include an alleged
00:53rape which occurred in the suburb of Eastside on Saturday night, where a 29-year-old woman
00:59allegedly woke to a man she did not know in her home who is said to have sexually assaulted
01:06her.
01:07A lot of people in the community have been frustrated by the events of recent weeks and
01:12months.
01:13Many of them met outside the police station here in Alice Springs to share that frustration
01:19with the Chief Minister.
01:21The Chief Minister inside today told media that locals deserve to be angry and frustrated
01:29understandably by what has occurred in recent weeks.
01:33Take a listen.
01:34These types of heinous crimes we're seeing take a huge toll on our police, our ambulances,
01:40our hospital workers and everyone who responds.
01:43It's not acceptable to see this increase in violent offending that we see all too often.
01:49And I know that our government and our police force are determined to make sure that community
01:53safety is restored for all people in Alice Springs.
01:57Police Commissioner this morning has outlined a series of measures that will be put in place.
02:02For one, he said that officers taking part in assisting in Operation Ludlow, which was
02:09an operation set up to target hotspots in the CBD, they'll be repurposed and sent to
02:16other areas in the suburbs of Alice Springs where we've seen some of these violent and
02:21serious crimes take place.
02:24They've also said that there will be an audit across the Northern Territory Police Force
02:27to see how many additional officers can be deployed to Alice Springs to assist with these
02:33efforts.
02:34But they didn't provide a number or a timeline for that to occur.
02:38They've also launched a new task force which will be focused on tracking down those with
02:43outstanding warrants and arresting them in Alice Springs, but didn't provide much further
02:50details around that.
02:52Here's the Police Commissioner talking earlier.
02:54We'll have people and police concentrating on specific areas and engaging with people
02:58in those areas to make sure that the people at their homes are safe.
03:03And they'll be supported by a support crew as well that can mobilise to each part of
03:07Alice Springs as required.
03:09So that's going to be really important.
03:10Supported by that, you'll see an immediate increase in visibility of policing from the
03:14Crime Command.
03:15They'll be in uniform and in the public as well.
03:19Well residents in Alice Springs have been frustrated by elevated tensions and criminal
03:26activity throughout this year, punctuated by two curfews called earlier this year.
03:34The Police Commissioner and Chief Minister did not rule out anything and they said all
03:40options remain on the table in responding to these incidents here in Alice Springs.