NT Police officers will have their say this week on whether they continue to have confidence in Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker, as the union begins to send out online surveys.

The extraordinary measure was made necessary after nine of 12 NT Police regions across the NT expressed no confidence in Mr Chalker to remain in the role for a variety of reasons, including his handling of the Zach Rolfe matter, failure to act on mental health and well-being measures for officers, overseeing the doubling of the attrition rate and

It will now be put to all current police members in the form of a “survey” where officers can explain their problems with Mr Chalker and the executive more broadly.

The NT Police Association committed to sending out the survey early this week, in an internal email sent to members late last week.

“The NTPA is currently in the final stages of working with an independent facilitator to conduct a survey of the membership on this issue,” the email said.

“The survey will take between 5-10 minutes, based on your responses.”

The survey comes just a week after Constable Zach Rolfe was reinstated to his job, four months after a Supreme Court jury found him not guilty of murder in the shooting death of Yuendumu man Kumanjayi Walker in November 2019.

The survey also comes during a calamitous time for the executive where questions of integrity have been raised over recent issues including the NT Police media unit lying to fire officers about a controversial speech the commissioner made to fire recruits, as well as the executive using scarce police resources to investigate the alleged damage to federal election corflutes that were marked up with the phrase “Integrity matters: Sack Chalker now”.

Last month, Mr Chalker released a public statement signed by the entire NT Police executive which now consists of assistant commissioners Michael White, Bruce Porter, Travis Wurst and Martin Dole, as well as deputy commissioners Michael Murphy and Murray Smalpage, purporting not to know why the police regions have no confidence in the commissioner.

“An understanding of the primary drivers of the sentiment raised by those present in those regional meetings will enable us to work collaboratively in overcoming any issues of concern,” Mr Chalker said about the no confidence vote.

“We remain committed to working with our people and the NTPA to continue to advance the NT Police force and the health and well-being of all of our members.

“We equally would like to understand the primary drivers of the sentiment as the NTPA executive has also expressed.”

It remains unclear why NTPA president Paul McCue has not explained the issues the rank-and-file have to Mr Chalker and the executive.

Mr McCue has distanced himself from the no confidence vote by the regions – estimated to have involved 450 officers out of 1660 – repeatedly saying the members had brought forward the no confidence issue and not the union executive.

Mr McCue has also repeatedly avoided criticising the commissioner, despite taking aim at him in February 2020, when he told The Australian that Mr Chalker was “out of touch with our troops if he can’t see the irreparable damage the swift charging of Constable Rolfe” had inflicted on officers’ morale.

However, in a previous email to members about the current no confidence “survey”, Mr McCue said not all members support the no confidence vote.

“Not all members will agree with what is being proposed, however it is the industrial right as part of the association that such a request can be put forward and members can choose to participate or not,” he wrote.

A change.org petition calling for Mr Chalker to be sacked earlier this year passed more than 9,300 signatures, but had no official power, stating that he continued to bring the NT Police force “into disrepute”.

In 2020, an NTPA survey of 500 members found that 86.5 per cent believed the Labor Government interfered in police operations.

It is unclear when the results of the current no confidence survey will be made public.