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Darwin's retailers are warning violent behaviour has increased to the point where their staff are no longer safe and it is driving customers away from the city centre.
Key points:
- Darwin retailers say they have been violently attacked by drunken itinerants and are losing business because of rising crime rates
- One retailer has installed a panic room in his store
- Business owners are calling for more police resources to be directed to the Darwin CBD
In Darwin's central Smith Street shopping mall, food retailers and other business owners have claimed they are losing money hand over fist because drunk itinerants regularly brawl and aggressively demand money from their customers.
"People are scared, they are demanding food and money from my customers, which is very much [affecting] the business, and we don't know where to get help with this problem," one of the mall's food shop owners said.
Ashvin Gill — who manages another business in the mall — said she regularly has to lock her front door after violent, drunk itinerants try to force their way in.
"As the front face of this business, apart from doing my job, I also have to be aware and alert at all times of my own safety as well as my clients, so it can be pretty overwhelming and exhausting" she said.
Ms Gill said when her business had been attacked or she felt under threat, the police have come to assist, but sometimes it took a long time for them to arrive.
"Almost daily, I see police officers but, at the same time, it takes time to call these people. So, it's not an immediate effect of protection," she said.
Retailers report being grabbed, punched
A worker from another shop said she was attacked recently while walking to her car in a car park off the mall after work.
"I was actually grabbed. He was drunk, and I just said: 'Let me go! let me go!'
She said she didn't tell police about the attack because being confronted by drunk itinerants on the street and in the shop has become such a regular occurrence.
Nigel manages another store in the mall.
"Two Friday nights ago, I got punched in the mouth because I didn't want someone sitting in my doorway and he objected," he said.
"Two weeks before that I had a drunk guy come in and completely trash the shop.
"I've had rocks thrown at my window, rocks thrown at me."
Nigel said the violence was severely damaging the business.
"It's scaring the living daylight out of the tourists, they come in and hide in my shop," he said.
Nigel said he felt the problem had escalated well beyond anti-social behaviour to a serious crime situation.
"As retailers, we've seen what's happened in Tennant Creek and Katherine. We've just lost Alice Springs, I fear that's where we're heading if we don't get this under control."
Photographer and Darwin city councillor Paul Arnold has a gallery in the mall.
"This is the worst Christmas I've had in the CBD and I've got 15 years I've been in the CBD, people are voting with their feet and not coming into the city," he explained
"The cost to small business is getting out of control."
He said he had installed a lockable panic room in the back of his gallery for staff.
"If the shop gets trashed, the shop gets trashed, and they can watch on CCTV and call police."
Calls for more police resources in the CBD
Mr Arnold said that, despite many meetings between retailers, government staff and police, the problem was getting worse.
"We've had public meetings and we hear there is short staffing," he said.
"But the answer is that the police need to be keeping our retailers and business owners in the CBD, and patrons, they need to be keeping them safe, and I'm sorry, they're not."
For a few years, the Northern Territory government and Darwin City Council have been paying a private security almost $1 million a year to employ a few staff to patrol the CBD in golf buggies.
Nigel said the security guards were limited in what they could do, as they could not touch nor arrest people.
"We're paying a private company to do what we should be getting the police to do," he said.
"Surely that money would be better put back into the police force."
Darwin property crime skyrockets in past year
Police crime statistics show there were 58 per cent more business break-ins in Darwin this year than last year, property damage was up 12 per cent, but assaults dropped by 11 per cent.
Darwin has always had itinerant drinking camps in its parks, but local charities have found there are more rough sleepers than usual this year.
Clancy — who brought his guitar to a camp strewn with beer cans — said he was here to avoid remote alcohol restrictions and visit family.
"Sometimes we got a lot of problem in our community," he said.
"It is restricted with liquor."
He said he also comes back to the park where his brother died 10 years ago after years sleeping rough in Darwin.
The Northern Territory police provided a statement that said it was focusing more resources in the Darwin CBD, and other areas, to tackle antisocial behaviour.
Police said that, to address underlying causes, the force is connecting rough sleepers with accommodation, alcohol and medical services.
"The NT Police alcohol policing operations work across the greater Darwin and Palmerston areas to identify anti-social behaviour trends and hot spots," the statement said.
"Resources continue to be focused within the Darwin CBD, Casuarina and Palmerston areas to tackle anti-social behaviour.
"NT Police, often on Segways, are out within the Mall precinct almost every day, supporting City Safe Operations staff."
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the government had provided police with more funds.
"We've provided a 36 per cent increase to the police budget since we've come to government. We are ensuring that alcohol — it's a legal product — but we restrict supply to those people who cause harm, so there is a range of measures that we're doing," she said.