The Northern Territory has appointed a new police commissioner to replace John McRoberts, who resigned after being accused of attempting to interfere with a criminal investigation.
Reece Kershaw, who has been acting commissioner since McRoberts’ resignation in January, was awarded a four-year contract in the top job, NT chief minister Adam Giles said on Tuesday.
Long serving NT police officer Mark Payne has been appointed deputy for three years.
Kershaw said he would focus on reducing anti-social behaviour, alcohol and drug related crime – particularly ice – as well as domestic and family violence, protecting remote communities and reducing youth crime.
Kershaw also flagged a closer dialogue with community groups in places such as Alice Springs, where youth crime and antisocial behaviour is a growing problem. Community groups and NGOs have at least partly blamed the worsening issue on the withdrawal of government funding for diversionary youth services.
“We believe we can do better. We can lead joint task force Neo [which] will be front and centre in relation to leading an integrated response coalescing all of our youth resources into one,” said Kershaw.
“We can probably deliver a better result by engaging with those NGOs at a deeper level.”
Giles said the recommendations of Kershaw and Payne’s appointment were made to cabinet and supported “unanimously,” except for the current police minister Peter Chandler who was absent.
Giles previously held the portfolio and will take it back at the end of an AFP investigation into McRoberts, who resigned after he was presented with allegations he sought to involve himself in a criminal fraud case understood to be against Darwin real estate agent and former head of NT Crimestoppers, Xana Kamitsis.
Kershaw conceded it had been difficult in the wake of the McRoberts scandal.
“It’s been a challenge. Certainly there’s no handbook for how to do these sort of matters and we dealt with that by doing the right thing not only by the police force but by the community,” he said.
“We stuck by that as well as looking at our values and making sure we behave at the highest order.”
He said there was “no doubt we took a hit and we were wounded internally” by the turmoil, but the police force would rebuild through their actions.
“What you’ll see and hear rather than necessarily words. We’ll focus on being professional, being values led, and that will lead to being a better organisation. We’ll also be better an engaging with the community. We need to really get a deeper relationship with the community.”
In an apparent veiled swipe at McRoberts - a former WA assistant police commissioner - Giles repeatedly praised the “homegrown” careers of the appointees.
“It is good to see that we’ve recruited from within,” he told media.
“As you know we’ve had previous interstate appointments and we did open up the field to interstate and international but it was just tremendous that both the commissioner and deputy have come from within the ranks. I think that shows a strong sign of strength within the force.”
