NT 'not immune' to growing threat of violent extremism, top cop says

The NT Police Commissioner has warned the NT is no longer "immune" to the growing threat of violent extremism.

This follows the arrest of an NT teenager last week over allegations he accessed, discussed and reposted violent extremist material on social media.

The Commissioner has urged parents to be aware of warning signs of radicalisation in young people.

The Northern Territory's most senior cop says police are relying on the community to help combat the rapidly increasing threat of violent extremism and radicalisation through online platforms.

Two NT teenagers have been charged with terrorism related offences in the last six months, including a 15-year-old arrested last week for allegedly possessing violent extremist material.

Investigators alleged the teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, collected documents "likely to facilitate a terrorist act" as well as schematics for 3D-printed firearms.

Police sources later told the ABC the teenager had allegedly expressed support for both the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and white supremacist Brenton Tarrant who murdered 51 people in a 2019 attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole said while the NT has historically found itself a step removed from certain crime trends, the proliferation of social media and artificial intelligence has meant the Territory is no longer immune.

"The traditional things we could rely on in the NT to keep us safe — our geography, analogue systems — are all changing.

"What we're seeing is an increase social media activation by people in the community, the convergence of artificial intelligence and tech along with criminals now willing to use those platforms."

Commissioner Dole pointed to research commissioned by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett which involved the psychological analysis of 55 Joint Counter Terrorism Team youth cases from 2020-2025.

The 55 cases involved youths aged between 12 and 17 years — all were boys and all were radicalised either entirely or partly online.

The research found most of the cases involved mixed ideologies, however jihadist extremism was the most prevalent, followed closely by anti-government/anti-authority or white supremacist ideology.

Commissioner Dole said a lot of people committing violent acts based on extremist views were not known to police.

"A massively increasing trend is that people who aren't known to law enforcement, aren't known to intelligence agencies are suddenly coming out and enacting violence … and then we go back and look at that event we see social media played a huge role in that event," he said.

Commissioner Dole said the rapidly evolving nature of cybercrime and online radicalisation means community awareness is more important than ever.

"Police are the community; community are police and that's ever true in this type of crime," Commissioner Dole said.

The arrest of the 16-year-old last week followed a tip-off to Crime Stoppers one week earlier.

Commissioner Dole encouraged parents and family members to "get to know the young people in their lives" and be aware of the warning signs.

"Increasing withdrawal, increasing emotive reactions that are unusual, so increasing strong reactions to the news or political announcements," he said.

"It doesn't mean that one warning sign means someone is being radicalised online, but what it means is they should probably be concerned enough to ask questions."

Commissioner Dole said given the current challenges facing law enforcement across Australia emerged rapidly and without warning, there are fears for what the future in cybercrime holds.

"What concerns us as a collective commissioners' group is what we're going to see in the next 18 to 24 months when we've already seen such an enormous increase in cyber-facilitated crime," he said.

"Everyone is turning their minds to what's next."