Acting Deputy Commissioner Michael White says NT Police must undergo ‘radical change’ to tackle DV

One of the Territory’s most senior police officers says he cannot see a way through the ‘epidemic’ levels of domestic violence without radical changes to the way things are done.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Michael White says “radical change is the only acceptable way forward”.

A radical shift in operations is the only option for Northern Territory Police going forward, senior brass says in light of revelations from an inquest into domestic violence in the Territory.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Michael White supported the introduction of a co-response model which would have police work alongside domestic violence specialists and boost co-operation between services.

Improving police responses to domestic violence would require extra work and personnel, he said, but the current system was contributing to officer burnout and failing to keep Territorians safe.

Commissioner White said levels of violence against women and children in the NT – most of them Indigenous – was at “epidemic proportions”, the worst he had seen in almost four decades in the force.

“There’s no longer an option for the status quo to continue,” he told the coroner’s court.

“Radical change is the only acceptable way forward.”

Commissioner White gave evidence at an inquest into the domestic violence killings of four Aboriginal women, including Kumarn Rubuntja (L) and Ngeygo Ragurrk (R).

Commissioner White was called as an expert witness at the inquest into the domestic violence killings of four Aboriginal women after sitting in on much of the evidence to date.

He said what he had heard over the past four months “keeps me awake at night”.

“The changes in policy over my time in the Northern Territory Police has seen significant change, but it’s not changing what’s occurring.

“The system responding to violence across the Territory is overwhelmed.

“We’ve been doing the same thing the same way for many years, expecting a different outcome.”

Between 50 to 80 per cent of NT Police work involves responding to domestic violence. Picture: Kevin Farmer

A co-response model will be trialled in Alice Springs over the next two years, with about $350,000 budgeted next year for two social workers.

The social workers’ dedicated role will be to help police work with a domestic violence lens and to link both victims and perpetrators with services.

In comparison Queensland’s co-responder program has a $29.3m budget and plans to recruit 300 social workers over the next three years, the court heard.

Commissioner White hoped there would be a system in place to ensure the new hires in Alice Springs were not “overwhelmed” by work, but “could see that their workload will be significant from the start”.

He said recruitment, retention and wellbeing of police officers remained an issue. Of 1640 officers about 200 were currently “unavailable for tasking” due to being unwell or restricted from duties, not counting those on annual leave.

Commissioner White said the “merry-go-round” of repeatedly responding to violence within the same families “absolutely” played a role in burnout and could contribute to inappropriate police responses.

“It’s a frustration with people responding, and I think it actually impacts on our ability to make clear decisions about how to respond,” he said.