Eighty-five per cent of NT Police who responded to a union survey say they considered an exit strategy from the force in the last six to 12 months, the NT Police Association has said, and that 97 per cent of respondents did not believe there are enough police to do what is asked of them, following on from last year’s vote of no confidence in the Police Commissioner.

The damning results had the Opposition calling Police Minister Kate Worden’s position “untenable” and reiterating their calls for a public inquiry into the police force.

NTPA president Paul McCue said 1,202 members responded to the survey or 74 percent of the NTPA membership – with 1,632 members eligible – making it the highest ever return rate of an NTPA survey.

The results were worse than the results stemming from the same questions that accompanied a vote of no confidence in Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker in August last year, and from results in 2021.

Mr McCue said the survey confirmed his members believe the NT Police force is critically understaffed and under-resourced, with members feeling completely abandoned by the NT Government.

“Clearly with our membership expressing such serious concerns regarding resourcing and morale, an urgent boost in funding for police, and serious considerations for structural changes to the department, need to be made,” he said.

Mr McCue said 85.3 per cent of respondents said they had considered an exit strategy from the force in the last six to 12 months.

In addition, 97.6 percent of respondents did not believe there are enough police to do what is asked of them, and 96.7 per cent did not feel supported by the NT Government.

Nearly 81 percent rated morale as low or very low, and 86.8 percent supported a work-to-rule industrial campaign.

In the NTPA’s 2021 member survey, with 531 respondents, 60 per cent or 318 police officers said they had either applied or were considering applying for a job outside of the NT Police, following on from the doubling of attrition rates since 2020.

Officers were citing management issues as their reason for leaving.

In another serious finding from the 2021 survey, 64 per cent of officers surveyed said their morale was “low or very low”.

In early August last year, about 80 per cent of the 1044 police officers who responded to an extraordinary NTPA online survey stated they had no confidence in Commissioner Chalker.

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

At the time, Mc McCue said it was the second highest total participation rate in the history of the NTPA behind a pay ballot in 2017. There were 1608 members who were eligible to participate in the survey.

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

That survey found that on top of the lack of confidence in the Commissioner, other issues such the high attrition rate, low morale, poor disciplinary processes and mental health and well-being also needed to be addressed.

“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,” Mr McCue said.

When asked by the NT Independent at the NTPA annual conference, which followed soon after the survey results, to name the single biggest issue for the overwhelming vote of no confidence in Mr Chalker indicated by members in the survey, Mr McCue admitted it was Mr Chalker’s handling of the Yuendumu shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker and subsequent charging of Constable Zach Rolfe with murder.

Mr McCue said that compared to the results of the 2022 membership survey, in 2023 there had been a substantial increase in members who did not believe there are enough police in the NT, while those who rated morale as low, or very low has also risen.

“The fact 1,024 surveyed officers said they’d considered an exit strategy in the past six to 12 months should be of enormous concern to government and the Commissioner of Police.

“That means 63 percent of the entire NT Police force has considered leaving the job. If that’s not the wake up call for the government to take urgent action, I don’t know what is.

“With interstate police forces actively targeting our current serving members, and now actively targeting overseas police officers, we appear already behind the eight ball,” said Mr McCue.

Opposition CLP Leader Lia Finocchiaro called for Police Minister Kate Worden to resign or be sacked by the Chief Minister and for a public inquiry to be established into the police force.

“The Fyles Government’s excuse about the crime problem being too complex for Territory Labor suggests the job is beyond the Police Minister’s capability,” she said.

“Even yesterday, the Chief Minister said she was working on long-term solutions. This means little to the police officers who, in the last week, have been kicked in the head, spat on, and had an axe thrown through their car window.

“With 85.3 per cent of survey respondents having considered an exit strategy in the next six to 12 months, we won’t have any police left in the Territory if we wait for this government and their ‘long-term solutions’. They must take action now.”