Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker’s bold assertion that his personal popularity has lifted while the coronial investigation into the death of Yuendumu teen Kumanjayi Walker is still underway surely ranks among his most confusing, self-aggrandising, and delusional comments yet.

In another baffling case of our Police Commissioner saying the quiet part loud, Mr Chalker has also called the integrity of the coronial inquest into question with his remarks.

Chalker has for months repeatedly said he would not comment on the inquest until it was over out of respect for the process, but when he saw the opportunity to self-promote at the expense of an inquiry into the death of an Indigenous man that is nowhere near finished, he jumped all over it to let everyone know that the inquest had finally provided “the truth”.

Or at least “the truth” as he sees it and in that way that only suits him.

He said that racist text messages shared between officers in Alice Springs, including Constable Zach Rolfe, were “completely and utterly reprehensible”.

And as a result of this coming to light, he was really popular with his members again, despite only three months ago being the subject of a historic vote of no confidence that would force a Police Commissioner in a normal, healthy jurisdiction to resign.

It is like he has been licking toads. There is also sometimes an air of Trumpism about what he says, where it seems he forms his own reality that only he could come to on slanted facts, and then disastrously chooses to share that reality with his members and the public.

This commissioner has made a fool of himself with his own public comments before, but this is a whole new low.

And that is saying something, considering some of the first words to come out of his mouth publicly after being named as commissioner in 2019 were: “Morale seems to have taken a solid shot in the arm with this appointment and that’s something that I’m very humbled by.”

Of course the fact that he said the first part of the sentence, proved the second part of that sentence to be at best incorrect, or at worst, a lie.

And who could forget those six minutes and 33 seconds in March, in the hours after Rolfe was found not guilty of the murder of Kumunjayi Walker, when Mr Chalker held one of the most bizarre and incomprehensible press conferences you could ever have the misfortune of listening to, where he did not utter the words: Zach Rolfe; Kumanjayi Walker; police shooting; murder trial; died; Yuendumu; Aboriginal community; not guilty?

Who needs psychedelics when the Police Commissioner is dealing out hallucinogenic word drugs.

Or in September last year when he said, “If the people in the world were much kinder to one another, we would be in a far better place,” when trying to justify why he was not taking disciplinary action against Deputy Commissioner Murray Smalpage who had live-streamed himself saying a group of police officers should be called “a murder”.

Or in May, when he told firefighting recruits on their second day of training that all firefighters were greedy and bilked overtime privileges.

Or at Budget Estimates in June, when he was asked how he was going to improve morale in police, without ever addressing the question, instead choosing to talk about how the criticism of him was “heart breaking”, and focused solely on what he saw was the impact on him.

Then he made the bizarre statement that he didn’t think he had been afforded natural justice, in one of several instances where he seems to be confused about how the justice system works.

The criticism of him then was based on a “number of mistruths” and “misguided beliefs”, he told us, and that “processes are in place” to deal with the hurt he was suffering, or to extract revenge, we couldn’t tell.

Historic vote of no confidence still ignored, as police morale continues to hit lows

In August, an overwhelming 80 per cent of respondents to the NTPA survey voted that they had no confidence in him. The online survey was completed by a massive 1044 police officers – a total not seen since the pay ballot in 2017 – and the second highest total participation rate in the history of the NTPA. There were 1608 members who were eligible to participate in the survey.

At the time NTPA president Paul McCue said the police force was “in complete crisis”.

On Wednesday, Mr Chalker said he felt more officers have confidence in him today, despite the Walker inquest still ongoing.

“I think it’s changed dramatically since a lot of truth has come out,” he said, adding that the attrition rate has “dropped markedly”.

As evidence of how great morale now was, he provided the fact that the 40 officers who he ordered to go to Alice Springs temporarily to deal with lawlessness, had actually gone.

“That doesn’t signal poor morale to me,” he said without indicating why he believed that made any sense.

His claim of a new era of NT Police love for him was refuted by the NT Police Association yesterday, who normally seem pathologically unable to criticise this Police Commissioner.

When asked about the morale of the force on radio, vice president Lisa Bayliss said they hadn’t heard anything different from their members since the survey and that “there’s a lot of unhappy police”.

“A lot of them are hurting quite a lot.”

But that hardly matters to Chalker.

In the hours, weeks, and months after the Constable Rolfe verdict, Mr Chalker repeatedly told the media he was legally limited in what he could say because of the inquest and that he would respect the process.

“… The coronial inquest that is due later this year will oblige us to maintain our level of respect and not continue, as others have, to proffer opinions and views in the absence of fact,” he said.

And: “Although not a criminal proceeding, the coronial inquest process also deserves the utmost respect”.

And: “We respect the integrity of court processes. Inclusive of criminal. Inclusive of coronial. And inclusive of civil.”

And: “Until that inquest is held I am constrained in what I can say”.

However, this week he was dragged out of his new professionally reclusive life at the top of the NAB building to talk about out-of-control crime in Alice Springs and found the time to throw a few words together about how great the inquest was going for him.

This is when Mr Chalker said the unfinished inquest had already provided “the truth”.

“People have now seen the truth for what it is as the evidence has been presented and are now making the appropriate judgment calls,” he said.

Inquest far from over, but questions raised about how far it will go

The NT Independent put questions to Mr Chalker about this – which he of course ignored – including why he thought it was appropriate to make public comments about “the truth” of evidence heard at a coronial, a coronial into the death of a man at police hands no less, before the coroner had released her report.

This inquest is far from over and we remind Mr Chalker that as fun as it might feel to revel in the suffering of others at this time, the timing of his victory lap is premature.

It seems there are particular “truths” from the coronial he wants to publicly spruik, while other evidence that points to potentially extremely serious police executive wrongdoing are not “truths” he wants to talk about. Publicly, at least.

Just this week, two respected coronial investigators Scott Pollock and David Proctor raised serious issues about the coronial investigation being halted by Chalker’s assistant Nick Anticich because the brass did not like the facts they were digging up and felt it would compromise the criminal investigation.

So, they suspended the coronial and ignored its findings that the use-of-force expert did not have all the evidence before filing his report and that he was not qualified to present evidence.

It was also revealed that recordings of joint management committee meetings were deleted by the brass without senior investigators having any knowledge and not taking personal notes.

We have also learned this week that those racist texts Chalker’s been revelling in, were actually given to him in November 2020 and he took no action on any of the officers involved in the time since, presumably waiting for it to be sprayed all over the national media as part of the inquest’s, and his own, “truths”.

Which again, raises questions about the integrity of the inquest that appears to be working with Chalker to further a certain narrative that suits Chalker rather than give full time to exploring the other issues of potential corruption in the highest ranks of the police force.

The NT Independent does not accept – and condemns in the strongest terms possible – racist comments about any culture. We also condemn senior police figures seemingly attempting to pervert the course of justice and wilfully suppressing facts to make a case for sending a man to jail for murder.

Chalker still needs to answer for this and his involvement in the criminal investigation as revealed in his own detectives’ notes.

He also should take no comfort about what has not come up, or not given due focus and importance in this inquest to date.

Just because audio files are deleted, does not mean the evidence disappears.