Nearly 80 per cent of NT Police officers who took part in a union survey have no confidence in Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker, preliminary results released late last night show.

The NT Police Association released the preliminary numbers to members in a general broadcast and the results are a damning indictment on the current commissioner and his executive.

An overwhelming 79.7 per cent of respondents said they have no confidence in Mr Chalker and another 79.4 per cent said current morale in the NT Police force is “low or very low”.

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 are currently 1608 members who were eligible to participate in the survey.

That means more than 820 officers of the 1044 who participated do not have confidence in Mr Chalker’s ability to continue to lead the police force.

Other troubling results in the preliminary numbers show 92.6 per cent of officers surveyed said they do not believe there are enough police in the NT to do what is asked of them.

Unsurprisingly, 87.9 per cent said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with “the current pay freeze offer from the Commissioner and government”.

There was also an option on the survey for members to write 150 words on why they voted the way they did on the confidence motion. Those results are yet to be released, but sources told the NT Independent that at least half had taken the time to make their reasons understood.

While the result of the survey is not binding, it has sent a clear message that rank-and-file officers are not happy with the current state of affairs with the force or its leadership.

“Complete crisis”: Union boss says Chalker’s employment a matter for himself and the government

NTPA president Paul McCue said in the emailed notice that the union would be discussing how to proceed at next week’s annual conference.

“As we have always stated, the results – and any further action to be considered by the NTPA executive – will also be discussed at our Annual Conference being held next week in Darwin,” Mr McCue wrote to members.

“From the outset, I have been upfront about providing the results of this survey to not only the membership, but also the Commissioner of Police and government – which ensures as much openness and transparency around the results as possible.”

Mr McCue said in a later media statement that the force was “in complete crisis”.

“Our members do not have confidence in the Commissioner, they overwhelmingly reject the Government’s disgraceful pay freeze, they think morale is at an all-time low, and there clearly needs to be an urgent review into staffing which is completely insufficient to undertake the roles our members are being forced to do,” he said.

Mr McCue added that he had notified Mr Chalker of the damning results on Thursday and had sent letters to Chief Minister Natasha Fyles, Police Minister Kate Worden and Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro.

Mr Chalker issued a statement on Friday morning, indicating he would not be resigning and stating for some reason that he gets “an overwhelming sense of pride” when meeting officers “face to face”.

The results are not what Mr Chalker’s executive team were expecting.

“We look forward to discussing the issues raised in the survey and talking directly to the conference next week,” Mr Chalker said in the statement.

Mr McCue did not call for Mr Chalker to resign.

“It is not the role of the NTPA to hire, or fire, Commissioners,” he said. “That is a discussion, taking into account these survey results, between Government and Commissioner Chalker.”

Chalker and his executive claimed only ‘small faction’ wanted no confidence motion

In late June, Mr Chalker released a public statement signed by his entire executive team, including Murray Smalpage, Michael Murphy, Michael White, Bruce Porter, Travis Wurst and Martin Dole, stating that they wanted to understand why nine of 12 police union branches voted for the no confidence motion, suggesting that “many officers” were not present when the votes were held and that “this sentiment has caused anxiety and distress to some of these members”.

“We want to reach a stage that our entire workforce can be open about their concerns,” the statement read. “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.”

Despite the top brass and the union claiming they were not aware of the driving issues for the vote of no confidence, the survey offered a list for officers to select from including one option referencing the “Yuendumu critical incident”, others included that the commissioner does not understand the challenges of NT policing and does “not have a clear vision”, discipline and complaints processes, the high attrition rates and “perception of double standards”.

Those results have not been released yet.

In May, Deputy Commissioner Michael Murphy said on radio that only a “small faction” wanted a no confidence vote on Mr Chalker.

“I think there’s a small faction who are agitating and I’ve said it before, it’s a distraction,” he said. “It’s a distraction from the majority of our hard-working police officers who come to work with purpose every day to protect Territorians.”