Jamie Chalker’s time as Police Commissioner has been defined by the aftermath of Kumanjayi Walker’s shooting death which raised serious questions about his integrity, including the hiding of key evidence in the Constable Zach Rolfe murder trial and questions of the integrity and morale of the force under his leadership.
In the wake of Mr Chalker’s yet-to-be-explained disappearance, this series examines his chaotic reign as top cop, bringing together all the failings, the lies, the alleged conspiracies, and mystifying public utterances.
Today, we look at the ICAC investigating political interference in the Constable Zach Rolfe murder charge, serious problems with the use of force experts in that trial, a 9,000-signature petition calling for Mr Chalker to be sacked, and allegations he called firies greedy in a speech to trainees.
READ: Tarnished Brass: Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker’s career saved from a housing wreck
READ: Tarnished Brass II: ‘An erosion of trust, respect, integrity, and the lack of compassion…’
READ: Tarnished Brass VI: Vote of no confidence in Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker
READ: Tarnished Brass VIII: Police pursued Rolfe murder charge against DPP witness advice
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Petition to sack Police Commissioner passes 9,000 signatures, Chief Minister calls him ‘outstanding’
The NT Independent reported a petition calling for Jamie Chalker to be sacked passed more than 9,000 signatures, while then-Chief Minister Michael Gunner said he was an “outstanding” commissioner, when asked if police officers supported the top cop in the wake of the not guilty verdict in the Constable Zach Rolfe murder trial.
The change.org petition, which had more than 9,300 signatures at the time of publication, but which came with no official power, stated Mr Chalker must be sacked immediately because “he has, and continues to” bring the NT Police force “into disrepute”.
“Under Mr Chalker’s leadership, NT Police attrition rates have doubled. In a survey conducted by NTPA more than 70 per cent of police officers surveyed said they were unhappy with the current direction of the NT Police force, have issues with the leadership, and felt unsupported by senior executive police management,” the petition stated.
The petition was created by Ameena Fomin, the creator and administrator of the Support NT Police Facebook group, whose husband is an NT Police officer.
Sunday, March 27, 2022
In an analysis piece the NT Independent wrote: “Mr Chalker’s second attempt to explain himself and his political masters this week, in the wake of the most high-profile criminal trial since a former NT police chief went to jail, saw him once again divorced from reality, contradicting his previous statements and leaving us all with more questions than we had before.
“The latest attempt to put the public at ease also raises concerns about what is happening behind closed doors and who thought putting Chalker out for the second round would allay anyone’s concerns that the charging of Constable Zach Rolfe wasn’t handled properly.
“Does anyone in a position of authority think the public believes Mr Chalker’s comments about the thoroughness of the Rolfe investigation, the speed in which it happened, and his and possibly the Chief Minister’s involvement in it?
“And is the Commissioner cognisant that his public utterances seem to sharply contradict what he has said and done previously, or even what he says moments later?
“Now think about the great silent standoff that is playing out in front of all of us, that should claim one of the people involved’s job.
“What is Chief Minister Michael Gunner saying to Mr Chalker behind closed doors as the pressure builds to asphyxiation level over claims of political interference in the Constable Rolfe murder charge?
“What is Police Minister Nicole Manison saying to the Commissioner of Police? She is certainly not saying anything to the public.
“What is Mr Chalker saying to NT Police Association president Paul McCue? And why has Mr McCue’s formerly harsh public condemnations of Mr Chalker wavered?”
Monday, March 29, 2022
The Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Michael Riches announced he would investigate allegations of political interference in the charging of Constable Zach Rolfe.
The announcement came after the NT Independent’s recent reports about concerns investigators had about the speed at which charges were laid.
Mr Riches said his investigation could include public hearings.
“I will investigate allegations of improper conduct relating to the arrest and charge of Mr Zachary Rolfe,” he said in a statement.
“My investigation will focus upon the period between the shooting incident and the presentation of Mr Rolfe for charging.”
There had been ongoing claims that Mr Gunner and Ms Manison had had a meeting with Mr Chalker before Constable Rolfe was charged and there were questions about the flight they all took together on a private plane to Yuendumu the day before the murder charge was laid.
Tuesday, March 30, 2022
NT Police’s Zach Rolfe media strategy developed before detectives told to arrest: Investigator
Senior NT Police figures told police media manager Rob Cross to craft a media strategy around the call to arrest Constable Zach Rolfe just minutes after his boss, Jamie Chalker, left an executive meeting in November 2019, with “one consistent message” for the public: that then-Assistant Commissioner Nick Anticich was the man who confirmed the directive to arrest and charge, investigator notes revealed.
Multiple investigators’ notes, obtained by the NT Independent, show Mr Chalker attended a meeting with senior police executives shortly before the directive was made to arrest Constable Rolfe for murder, which appears to contradict Mr Chalker’s public claims in the week before that he was not involved in any discussions about the charges before they were laid.
Mr Chalker was meeting with police executives who had just returned from handing over the unfinished brief of evidence to the Department of Public Prosecutions where director Jack Karczewski recommended a murder charge.
Those diary notes also show that at least five investigators raised concerns about the speed at which the charges were being considered by the DPP, which was finalised before all the evidence was collected.
Lead investigator Detective Superintendent Kirk Pennuto’s notes reference Mr Anticich directly telling Mr Cross that the “comms strategy” should be “one consistent message”: that “Anticich confirmed arrest direction”.
“Meeting adjourned,” Pennuto wrote.
Monday, April 4, 2022
Analysis: Public inquiry into Walker-Rolfe affair needed as ICAC office implicated too
The NT Independent pens another analysis piece asking the following: “How do we live in a place where Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker deems it acceptable to not stand aside, let alone resign, after the Office of the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption announced he was investigating the charging of Constable Zach Rolfe?
“But we are dealing with a confusing and hopelessly compromised situation here too, where the body investigating, ICAC, seemingly needs investigating for its own failures in the matter.
“And that any findings of wrongdoing they make from their Rolfe investigation, will then be handed over to two other bodies being investigated, the NT Police and the Department of Public Prosecutions, to deal with.
“…The whole thing is a pretty little daisy chain of conflicts of interests.
“And that is why the Territory needs an independent public inquiry, and even then, with someone brought up from down south to oversee this, the second part of that broken scenario still stands.”
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
The top cop in charge of overseeing complaints about NT Police investigations warned officers building the murder case against Constable Zach Rolfe their use of force “expert” Senior Sergeant Andrew Barram was “not suitable” to provide evidence due to a “conflict of interest”, internal police emails obtained by the NT Independent show.
However, those concerns were ultimately ignored with Snr Sgt Barram becoming the prosecution’s star witness at the Supreme Court murder trial.
Records show senior police figures Commander Bruce Porter, then in charge of the police college, and then-acting Commander Martin Dole, wrote to Commander Danny Bacon, who was then in charge of Professional Standards Command, a week after Constable Rolfe was charged for murder in the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker in 2019, to recommend Snr Sgt Barram act as the use of force expert for the internal investigation.
Cmdr Porter suggested Snr Sgt Barram was qualified to provide evidence due to his history as the officer in charge of the police college, including at the time Constable Rolfe was trained, had oversight of the police’s Operational Safety and Tactics Training and had been the NT’s representative on “many forums” relating to use of force.
However, Cmdr Bacon was adamant Snr Sgt Barram was “not suitable” because he was too entrenched in the NT Police force.
“…I find that he is not suitable to provide [evidence],” Cmdr Bacon wrote in an email dated November 20, 2019, obtained by the NT Independent.
“I state this on the basis that all these reasons [raised by Porter] would place him in a perceived conflict of Interest in relation to providing this report for Op Charwell [the taskforce investigating Rolfe].
Monday, April 11, 2022
Expert in Rolfe committal hearing dropped by prosecution before murder trial
Jamie Chalker and the Director of Public Prosecutions refused to explain why an American use-of-force expert paid by police who provided evidence against Constable Zach Rolfe was used at the committal hearing but not during the Supreme Court murder trial.
Criminologist Geoffrey Alpert, from the University of South Carolina, was first contacted by police investigators in December 2019 as they built their murder case against Constable Rolfe after failing to attract any Australian experts willing to testify.
Internal police emails obtained by the NT Independent show Professor Alpert repeatedly changed draft reports after suggestions by detectives investigating the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker and tender documents show he was paid nearly $100,000 for his “professional services”.
Professor Alpert was used as an independent expert at the committal hearing in which he told the court the first shot fired by Constable Rolfe at Kumanjayi Walker was “justified” but that the second and third shots were “excessive, unreasonable and unnecessary”.
That testimony was heavily relied on to deem Constable Rolfe fit to stand trial for murder at the Supreme Court, but it remains unclear why Professor Alpert did not testify at the trial.
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Chalker releases excerpts of speech to select media after NT Independent filed FOI application
Jamie Chalker gave a controversial speech to firefighting recruits in which the firefighters’ union, United Workers Union NT, said the top cop, who is also the chief executive officer of the NT Fire service, called firies greedy for the overtime they worked.
Union head Erina Early called for him to resign from his position after NT Fire media boss Rob Cross released partial recordings of the speech to other media, three days after the NT Independent filed a freedom of information application.
Recordings showed Mr Chalker speaking to recruits during a wide-ranging and disjointed speech about his intention to put an end to union “bullies” who “carry rank in the fire service” bullying fire staff, high overtime expense claims, the ongoing EBA negotiations, training reforms, the impressive length of the Stuart Highway, the NT’s economic prospects and the Beetaloo Basin, amongst other seemingly random topics.
Internal NT Police emails showed one of Mr Chalker’s media advisers lied to a senior fire services officer telling them there was no sound on the recording of the controversial speech the Commissioner made.
The emails also had Mr Cross saying the media adviser has been “in an awkward situation”, and further that he was “curious” that it had taken over five weeks for details about the speech to be “leaked, or held onto and queried at this time.”
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
‘A large step forward in bringing stability back’: Police arrest 25 over riots in Wadeye
The NT Independent reported a man had been killed after being speared in the head, health clinic staff had been seriously injured, police officers had been told not to leave the station compound, and 36 houses had been set on fire during ongoing violence largely not made public by NT Police or the Gunner Government.
The paper relied on police and others sources to report on the violence in the community over a number of months, which ultimately saw more 450 people displaces.
One source in the initial reporting said it was “absolute mayhem” in the town which has been the scene of violence and rioting for some time.
“Clinic staff have been seriously injured following riots, after someone speared another man through the head with a metal pole and killed him last week,” they said.
NT Police only issued two media releases about crime in Wadeye in the two month leading up to it, while then-media manager Rob Cross did not respond to the NT Independent’s questions.
The violence went on for months, with police covering most of it up, including three ram-raids on a Darwin camping store were cross bows were stolen and taken back to the community.
Budget Estimates in June heard close to half the houses in the community were in some way damaged, or 125 out of 288 public houses.
The majority of public disclosures by police about Wadeye came after questions have been put to them by the NT Independent, or following NT Independent articles with revelations about the violence and extent of the displacement in the town, which federal NT Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy called a “humanitarian situation”.
By late May, the NT Independent had reported sources had said more than 400 people were displaced, with hundreds living in tents on the edge of town too scared to buy food; the school has been closed after a teacher was assaulted, a man was speared in the leg and the Health Clinic attacked, children were walking around with homemade tomahawks, a worker’s camp was ram-raided, and at least 45 houses have been left unlivable due to damage from riots and ongoing violence.
None of which had not been made public by the NT Government or NT Police.
Sunday, May 1, 2022
NT Police officer suspended without pay for criticising Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker
The NT Police top brass stripped a respected officer and father of two of his livelihood for speaking out against Mr Chalker in an opinion piece in the NT Independent, in which he called for the police force to restore its core values and hold a vote of no confidence against Mr Chalker in the wake of the Constable Zach Rolfe matter.
Sergeant Mark Casey, a 25-year veteran of the NT Police, [who has since been sacked] was suspended without pay after his opinion piece garnered thousands of reads and hundreds of social media shares in support.
Sgt Casey wrote Mr Chalker had breached the values of the NT Police force through his handling of the Constable Rolfe matter, that investigators’ notes show he was involved in, in the days leading up to the officer’s murder charge despite telling the public he was not involved.
Sgt Casey was also critical of the “authoritarian” approach Mr Chalker and the executive were taking to managing the force.
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