Police exit interview process under review amid overhaul of mental health services

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES. While a long-awaited review into mental health support for NT Police continues, former cops have been waiting months for a simple call. See why.

Exit interview requests from cops leaving NT Police are falling on deaf ears because of “completely under-resourced” mental health support service, according to the union.

The damning criticism by NT Police Association president Paul McCue comes as a long-awaited review into officer wellbeing stretches on.

“There should be five psychologists employed with the department and there’s only two or three at the moment,” Mr McCue said.

“Alice Springs has always been a big issue and none are currently stationed there, so there’s a rotational system with the ones based in Darwin.

“In terms of psychology it’s a really challenging recruitment environment.”

A union-backed independent review of NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services Support and Wellbeing programs was completed in May.

“As the outcomes of review continue it is a priority to fill those vacant positions,” Mr McCue said.

“The lack of professional mental health support was one of the main reasons we called for the review in the first place.

“There just isn’t enough support staff and so those follow-ups (after an incident or departure) have been very reactive, when they should have the ability to be proactive.

“The survey we did prior to the review was consistent with feedback we’ve received over many years.”

Northern Territory Police Association (NTPA) President Paul McCue. Picture: Che Chorley

In June, a month after the review was delivered, a 26-year-old Aboriginal Community Police Officer in Alice Springs took his life at a time where there was no face-to-face professional mental health support available.

It marked the fourth confirmed suicide of current and former NT cops this year.

An NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services spokesman said that the department was currently recruiting for an Alice Springs-based Wellbeing and Health Officer.

Replacements are also being sought for the NT Police’s two departing chaplains, one of which is based in Alice Springs and the other in Darwin.

The revised wellbeing strategy is expected to be finalised by the end of 2022.

Among the changes currently rolling out are a reformed exit process “to allow for confidential feedback” and the provision of support services.

However, former cop Nick Carter who spent eight years with NT Police, said he was never granted an exit interview despite many requests for one.

Mr Carter said countless colleagues had been met with the same silence.

“I left the force in June last year and I’ve been waiting for a phone call ever since,” he said.

“When I left all I wanted was an exit interview and I never got that either.

“Myself and three other former colleagues have been asking for the same thing for months and none of us have been contacted to this day.”

Mr Carter made headlines in 2016 when he was left bloodied and bruised after a brutal assault outside Darwin nightclub Monsoons.

He said the attack was just one rung on the ladder that led him to leave the force.

NT Police officer Nick Carter was coward punched outside Monsoons. He was knocked out and left bloodied and bruised from the attack. Picture: Supplied

“If there’s an incident usually we’d be called the next day but beyond that there was never any follow-up,” he said.

“It was all down to self-referral.

“The chances of cops self-referring and actively seeking help are very, very slim when it comes to mental health.

“You’re not confident that the process is confidential either.”

Mr Carter, who now lives in Adelaide, has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and alcohol use disorder.

He has been clinically deemed unfit to work or volunteer for the foreseeable future.

“When you flick the scab off something, you realise the wound is a whole lot bigger below,” Mr Carter said.

“(The department) is scared of flicking that scab and realising the depth of commitment to even begin to address the problem, never mind solve it.”

A NTPFES spokesman said some of the other changes under way were mental health “wellchecks” for all frontline personnel, the provision of mental health first aid training, and a reinvigoration of a peer support program.