A 36-year-old recruit to the NT Government’s new Police Public Safety Officer program has been charged with various traffic offences in connection to a vehicle crash that occurred last month while he was off duty, NT Police said.

Details of the alleged offence were not disclosed.

Police have charged the PPSO with careless driving, failing to stop and assist after a crash, and failing to report a crash.

Police said in a statement that the 36-year-old PPSO recruit was “no longer employed by the NTPF”.

He is scheduled to appear in Darwin Local Court on May 20 on the charges.

The controversial PPSO program, which was introduced by the Finocchiaro CLP Government last year, aims to transition bus safety officers and public housing officers into quasi-police officers by providing them shortened police training so the former security guards can carry guns, make arrests and act as full police officers to crack down on “anti-social behaviour”.

The program has been heavily criticised by health and justice advocates who said the PPSOs are clearly intended to target Indigenous Territorians and raised concerns about the people picked to become Police Public Safety Officers.

Change the Record – a national coalition of legal, health and family violence prevention experts – last year called on the Finocchiaro Government to abandon its “harmful proposal” and for the Federal Labor Government to intervene if it refused.

“Embedding armed officers into everyday environments will only increase the risk of harm for Aboriginal people, people with disabilities, and those experiencing mental health issues or disadvantage,” Change the Record CEO Jade Lane said at the time.

The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory also criticised the plan, calling it “Trumpism in the Territory”.

AMSANT chief executive John Paterson said last June that the plan marks the second decision in two weeks to equip “underqualified individuals with weapons,” referring to the public capsicum spray trial.

“While community safety matters, equipping more people with weapons is not the answer,” he said at the time.

The first PPSO squad was sworn-in in February, with Police Commissioner Martin Dole calling it a “monumental moment”. The first squad had 24 recruits, with training expected to end on June 26. Mr Dole said 72 PPSOs would graduate from the shortened training by the end of the year.

The PPSOs will undertake patrols of the Darwin and Palmerston bus networks, as well as patrols of government public housing sites. The government said the PPSOs will also undertake “high visibility patrols of identified hotspots” in the Greater Darwin area, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. They will also be used for custody management and front counter duties at police stations.