EDITORIAL: The NT Independent’s explosive special investigation series based on an internal coronial report the Police Commissioner did not want the public to see has laid bare the fundamental failings in the police force, not just in its response the night Kumanjayi Walker was shot and killed, but has revealed bigger overall issues with the NT Police that continue to fester.

The problem is, the Police Commissioner knows this, and instead of doing anything to address those failings in close to three years, instead used a lawyer paid for by taxpayers to yesterday attempt to intimidate the NT Independent at the coronial inquest because his previous threats against us have failed to shut us down.

Ian Freckelton told the inquiry “we” (meaning Jamie Chalker) was upset about our reporting.

He conflated two different issues to confuse people.

The first, was that he was upset we quoted Richard Rolfe in two stories relating to the NT Police executive blocking Zach Rolfe from attending police premises because Sgt Julie Frost, the officer in charge the night of the Yuendumu shooting, would be “triggered” if she saw Constable Rolfe in the workplace.

Constable Rolfe couldn’t or wouldn’t comment under orders so we went to Mr Rolfe seeking comment for the story.

We also went to Sgt Frost and the Commissioner seeking their response to the issue of banning Constable Rolfe from police premises. They chose not to respond or offer any explanation.

We then ran another story about Sgt Andrew Barram and Sgt Wayne Newell telling the executive they also did not want to see Constable Rolfe at work. Again, Mr Rolfe provided comment from his perspective and again, Barram, Newell and the Commissioner did not respond to our questions and our offer of the right of reply.

But the biggest problem Jamie Chalker and his executive team have with our reporting is that it is revealing the truth that he has tried to cover up since he officially took the job nearly three years ago.

Our six-part investigative series laid bare the problems with the operation to arrest Mr Walker and the failings of epic proportions that led to his death. And the Commissioner knew all about this for three years and instead of disciplining those responsible, he promoted them.

We expect most of what we reported to come out at the current coronial inquest under Coroner Elizabeth Armitage which started yesterday.

But just in case, we felt you needed to know about it, that the public has a right to know how its police force functions, how it makes decisions that affect the safety of the public and that those matters are crucial for the public’s faith in its institutions.

Here’s a brief summary of what our reporting in recent days has found, based on a copy of an internal police report prepared for the Coroner that Chalker hid from the public:

• An Assistant Commissioner and Division Superintendent who deployed the Immediate Response Team did not understand how it functioned and should not have deployed it “without strict protocols in place for the apprehension of a ‘high-risk’ offender” that would have been the role of the highly-skilled TRG.

• Kumanjayi Walker would “most likely” still be alive had the NT Police followed proper training and policies in Yuendumu; instead the IRT operated without a leader, its members were not trained properly, they operated under poorly drafted governing policies, had no active operation plan the night of the shooting, and that members had armed themselves against police protocol, including with assault rifles to go into an Aboriginal community. They were also found to have developed a “warrior mentality” and had lost focused on the task at hand and had raised concerns about the “para-militarisation” of the police.

• Zachary Rolfe was not truthful in his application with the NT Police and had not disclosed medication he was taking for a “psychiatric condition” – identified as Xanax – that would have rendered him unsuitable for the IRT. It was also found he “likely” would not have been admitted to the police because he did not fully disclose disciplinary matters from his time in the army. This also exposed flaws in police recruitment and that they did not check on recruits before accepting them. The report also found that police in Alice Springs were overlooking use of force complaints and a problem culture had been allowed to develop.

• NT Police officers refused to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as Walker lay dying – against policy – and then lied to his family about his condition, not telling them he had died more than three hours before they called for an update.

• Sgt Julie Frost put health staff lives at risk through an “attempted deception” plan against the community, told officers to turn off their body-worn cameras following the shooting – against protocol – and failed to control the IRT members that she had requested.

And then there was this one, which we aren’t so sure is going to be raised at the coronial inquest, but is truly chilling for anyone who believes we have a police force and a public prosecutions unit that is free of outside influence and is working in the best interests of justice:

• The Director of Public Prosecutions and the Police Commissioner knew their witnesses in the murder trial of Zach Rolfe were not reliable but used their testimony anyway. This includes the prosecution’s star use-of-force witness Sgt Andrew Barram who was found to have had his integrity compromised by investigators, was “pressured” to be involved in the investigation and did not understand contemporary law around use of force for officers. He trained officers in use of force at the Police College for years. It was also revealed that another use of force witness used at the committal hearing was also not given all the facts and had his “independent” report “edited” by senior investigators. It was further revealed that police blurred the lines between a criminal and coronial investigation and threatened witnesses with disciplinary action if they did not provide statements. The DPP also knew about this before the trial started.

We feel the public have a right to know this, in fact we believe this has raised serious concerns about our entire justice system and how it could be manipulated ahead of a murder trial.

But that’s why Chalker and his executive team are so angry about our reporting to date. When his previous threats to put us under investigation by his police force failed to stop us from reporting on what he was up to, he is now, in a last ditch effort using taxpayer-funded lawyers to cry to the Coroner about the truth getting out.

Freckelton demanded that the Coroner “exercise her powers” against us if our reporting continues. Sounds like intimidation to us. But it won’t stop us from bringing you these stories and the others about the police executive’s failures.

He also accused us of breaching a non-publication ban that we were never made aware of and that does not appear to include our source material.

They only wanted all of this to come out through the coronial so they could manipulate it and spin the message.

Unfortunately for Chalker, he hasn’t been able to intimidate us or manipulate what the public sees in the NT Independent. Although it has not been without trying. At one point before the murder trial, Chalker even had a lawyer request that the court suppress reporting on the fact that he tried to cover up the internal coronial report that has informed these stories.

He wasn’t successful at that either.

You can read all of our stories for free in the special investigation series entitled “Fatal Failures” here.