Nearly 10 NT police officers are resigning or retiring every month, NT Police Association chief executive officer Paul McCue has said, while warning of looming problems without increased recruiting.

Mr McCue said if the attrition continued at that rate for the next six months, the force was going to be in “a huge hole.”

“There has been more recruiting happening of more recent times, but the last two years of the previous term of government, there was very little recruiting so we’re now in this void, but we need to play catch up again,” he told Mix 104.9 radio on Wednesday morning.

“What concerns me recently, and that is, you know, generally our attrition has been sitting at around five or six per month so maybe 60 odd per year.

“It’s my understanding that’s almost doubled in recent times, so around nearly 10 [police officers] a month have been either resigning or retiring through the Police Force.

“That is a huge concern for us and I know that’s something I’ll need to have some fairly urgent discussions with the Commissioner and the Minister about because if that is the case, we are going to find ourselves in a huge hole in six month’s time.”

The number of losses does not include dismissals. In September, three officers faced court charged with criminal offences such as rape and drug offences, while at least four police officers have been dismissed over their conduct.

At July 31 last year, the NT Police force had 1,537 police members, with 79 Senior Sergeants, 228 Sergeants, 839 Constables, 208 auxiliaries, and 73 Aboriginal community police officers. The rest of the positions are members of commissioned rank and non-frontline positions.

Meanwhile, the Police Federation of Australia figures show 63,000 Australian police officers in all jurisdictions including the Commonwealth. The NT Police force is only 2.44 per cent of the Australian-wide force.

Mr McCue said NT Police need to consider that police forces in other jurisdictions are heavily recruiting and that the NT should step up its recruitment process to get officers onboard.

“There are other police jurisdictions in the country heavily recruiting at the moment,” he said. “My understanding, you know, Queensland alone 1,500 police. We’ve got South Australia, we’ve got WA, we’ve got Tasmania. They’re all heavily recruiting so it is a competitive market out there for people who want to join a police force.

“We need to be front and center in our recruiting programs to make sure we get enough people to come up here in the NT.”

After the recent alleged hit-and-run in Alice Springs where motorcyclist Shane Powell was killed, Police Minister Nicole Manison said three new police squads would be graduating in the coming months with 45 officers to be sent to Alice Springs. And two weeks ago, eight Aboriginal liaison officers started a three week training course in Alice Springs.

Ms Manison did not respond to questions about the attrition rate or increased recruiting.

Alice Springs policing crisis

Ms Manison had earlier told the radio program that since October 13 there had been 59 criminal prosecutions filed by police in Alice Springs, with 41 of those involving youth.

“We can’t just keep going around the same circle,” Mr McCue said, “It has to come to a head at some stage because the community are fed up that our members are also working their backsides off and they’re fed up as well.”

“You know large groups of us are walking the streets at night there. Sometimes they feel like their hands are tied. I mean obviously they’re doing everything they can, and we know how hard they work.

“But they’re just, they’re just tired, and they need a break and they’re not getting it. And I’ve got real concerns about that,” Mr McCue said.

According to an Alice Springs police source, leave for officers was cancelled at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, and the order was still in force at the beginning of October.