Northern Territory police have sought assistance from their South Australia colleagues for help in Mparntwe/Alice Springs for the second time in one year.
Coming after a string of violent incidents - including the fracture of a two month-old baby girl's skull during an alleged violent home invasion - Police Commissioner Michael Murphy made the request to his counterpart in South Australia late on Friday.
"I have made the decision to draw our members back to their various locations to ensure policing operations are continued throughout the Top End," Commissioner Murphy said, noting all the officers from SA have received full cultural awareness training.
It was backed by Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro, who in the face of criticism has doubled down on her criticism of the previous Labor government, and her government's 'tough on crime' mantra.
"I have always said we will do whatever it takes to keep Territorians safe," she said.
"For eight years, Labor turned its back on NT police and allowed crime to escalate to crisis levels with Territorians paying the price for Labor's failures.
"We make no apologies for doing whatever it takes to keep Territorians safe."
NT Police said 10 SA Police officers would be sent for the first eight-day rotation, expected to leave Adelaide today and be sworn in as officers of the NT Police.
Overall, SA Police will send four deployments of 10 officers, with the deployment expected to end in early February.
Labor and Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour previously expressed her fear of living in Mparntwe, and said many others felt the same.
"One day someone's gonna say 'I have to protect my home and my kids' and there'll be consequences. That's what I fear, is that someone's going to get killed in all of this," she said last month.
Before Christmas, the Chief Minister argued serious measures were needed to stop the violence, and, in a move backed by federal opposition spokesperson for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, called on the federal government to enact a number of policies.
These include welfare payments to be made on current takeaway alcohol-free days only; reintroduce compulsory work or training programs with fortnightly reporting obligations for welfare recipients; and "accept the Northern Territory Government's referral to the Federal Government for parents who neglect their children, enabling additional income management".
However, federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, seemed to pour old water on many of the ideas pushed by the NT government, noting the "complexities" in the proposal to quarantine welfare payments could possibly breach the Racial Discrimination Act.
Mparntwe/Alice Springs saw two curfews in 2024, after a series of violent incidents across the town and nearby communities. Last month, NT opposition leader Selena Uibo said the new CLP government's approach to crime prevention was failing and called for another curfew in the town.
On December 30, it was revealed a record number of people are currently incarcerated in the NT. More than 1 per cent of all Territorians are now in prison.
These numbers are expected to rise dramatically as a number of new laws, including incarcerating children as young as ten-years-old, come into effect on Monday.
