The WA Police Union has blamed the “exodus” from the Western Australian police force on management and culture, with a record number of officers leaving, at an attrition rate of 4.6 per cent over the last year, compared to the 10 per cent for the Northern Territory over a similar period.
Union president Mick Kelly issued a statement on July 1, blaming police management for what he described as an “exodus’, which stands in stark contrast to NT Police Association president Paul McCue, who represents officers where there is a 10 per cent attrition rate, and who has not criticised Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker for the more than double exit rate, instead blaming former chief minister Michael Gunner, and former police minister Nicole Manison.
According to the 2021 WA Police annual report, there were 7272 officers in the force, while Mr Kelly said there were 340 officers who had left – a rate of about 4.6 per cent – with senior constables making up the biggest proportion of resignations.
Mr Kelly said 126 of those who had left had answered a union survey that showed 77.4 per cent had said dissatisfaction with WA Police force management and culture was a reason they resigned.
“Most survey respondents have gone well beyond ticking a box to spell out why they walked away from the WA Police force in recent months,” he said.
“Only one of them has referenced swapping a police station for a FIFO gig on a mine site, whereas dozens have explained how working for the agency decayed their mental health, demolished their personal relationships and destroyed their work-life balance.”
Nine News reported acting WA Premier Roger Cook had said many industries were facing labor shortages, with many officers going into high paying mining jobs.
“We’ve got an economy at the moment which is absolutely booming and as a result of that you’ll see fluidity in the workforce,” Mr Cook said.
The ABC reported that WA Estimates hearings last month heard the average number of resignations have been increasing since 2019.
In late June, the NT Independent reported that calculations, based on NT Police Association figures, showed that 171 officers had left the force in the reporting period from May 25 2021 to May 24, 2022, an attrition rate of about 10.2 per cent.
Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker told NT Budget Estimates there were 1669 sworn officers in the NT Police force, which was up from the figure of 1,537 at July 31, 2021 cited in the NT Police annual report. According to the annual report tabled in late October, the attrition rate at June 1 for the last financial year had nearly doubled to 8.51 per cent, up from 4.53 per cent in the 2019-20 financial year, and 4.66 per cent the year before.
Mr Chalker, who started in the role in late November 2019, has repeatedly said the demands on officers during the COVID-19 pandemic – which began in April 2020 – led to burnout and police leaving, and former police minister Nicole Manison had previously said NT officers were so good they were being recruited by other jurisdictions.
NTPA president Paul McCue announced 12 days ago that there would be a Territory-wide vote of confidence in Mr Chalker in the “coming weeks”, after nine of 12 union sub branches moved successful motions from the floor to have the vote.
“We’ve had large amounts of people turn up to our meetings, equally there’s been quite a few members offer support for the commissioner, and a lot of the work that’s been implemented since he’s come in such as additional resourcing in remote stations, bringing back the duty supers, all those sorts of things,” he said during a Mix 104.9 interview.
“You know equally there’s been some comments around the positives.”
Mr McCue has failed to respond to questions from the NT Independent about the no confidence motions at the branch meetings and criticism from members about his perceived lack of criticism of Mr Chalker on behalf of police officers.
Sources have told the NT Independent the lack of confidence in Mr Chalker stems from the Constable Zach Rolfe murder charge in the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu, and the subsequent Supreme Court trial. But there is also deep unhappiness at the increased attrition rate, a view that disciplinary action is being used for frivolous matters and to prevent members transferring to other jurisdictions, as well as a belief the executive enforce standards on the rank-and-file that they do not uphold themselves.
There have also been five known suicides of current or former police officers this year while police well-being service positions have been cut by the executive.
Mr McCue’s commentary on Mr Chalker, specifically with reference to the Constable Rolfe charge, has also changed significantly since his interview with The Australian in February 2020, where he said Mr Chalker was “out of touch with our troops if he can’t see the irreparable damage the swift charging of Constable Rolfe” had inflicted on police morale.
“Our members are still completely dumbfounded by the hasty decision to charge Constable Rolfe with murder, just days after the critical incident, and before a thorough investigation had occurred,” Mr McCue said at the time.
“The NTPA still receives numerous calls, daily, from members who are angry, disillusioned, and questioning whether they still want to remain in the NT Police Force …”
However, after Constable Rolfe was found not guilty of murder and two alternative charges in the Supreme Court in early March, Mr McCue has not once criticised Mr Chalker publicly, and said the NTPA would need to travel around the Territory to consult with members to gauge their feelings about the Commissioner, and the charging of Constable Rolfe.
The WA union president said his officers were telling him they were leaving due specifically to management practices.
“Lack of support from management. Lack of interest from management. Lack of care of staff from WA Police Force. Looked elsewhere and secured better job with better pay, better conditions and better care from the company,” he explained of the reasons his officers had resigned.
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