Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker believes police confidence in his leadership has dramatically changed

Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker says the sentiment of NT’s rank and file officers has turned ‘since a lot of truth has come out’ as he condemns racist texts between serving cops.

Commissioner Jamie Chalker believes police confidence in his leadership has “changed dramatically” in light of “truths” revealed in the Kumanjayi Walker inquest.

A Northern Territory Police Association survey released in August revealed 79.7 per cent of police officers did not have confidence in the Police Commissioner.

However, at a press conference on Wednesday, Commissioner Chalker said he now thought police confidence had changed significantly since.

“I think it’s changed dramatically since a lot of truth has come out,” he said.

“You can keep the rhetoric morale is low, but our attrition has dropped markedly already.

“We’ve made significant arrests, we’ve loaded up the jails, justice is being done and we are out there providing support to the community.”

It came as the Commissioner condemned racist text messages between Zach Rolfe and other serving cops which came out in evidence during the ongoing Walker inquest.

Territory Coroner Elisabeth Armitage is presiding over an ongoing inquest in the Alice Springs Local Court into the death of Kumanjayi Walker after he was shot three times by Constable Rolfe during an attempted arrest in Yuendumu in 2019.

Constable Rolfe was acquitted on all charges in March following a trial in the Supreme Court.

During the inquest Superintendent Jody Nobbs confirmed the racist texts were not isolated to a certain individual.

Such texts, revealed in evidence, included Conastable Rolfe alledgely referring to Indigenous as “c**ns” and “Neanderthals.”

NT Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker has condemned racist texts between officers. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Commissioner Chalker on Wednesday said it was an issue the force would need to investigate further.

“I think it’s completely and utterly reprehensible, it is not something I support and I think a lot of friendships have been broken because of it,” he said.

“Do we have a systemic issue? We certainly have an issue that warrants even further exploration, we’ve had a lot of conversations in this space.

“I have to add all of this evidence is from November, 2019. We didn’t have close to 40 Aboriginal liaison officers.

“We didn’t have a raft of other things in place to change the general direction of this agency.

“People have now seen the truth for what it is as the evidence has been presented and are now making the appropriate judgment calls.

“There is a cultural change going on and people now understand why that has occurred.”

This comes as Commissioner Chalker deployed 40 additional police officers to combat crime in Alice Springs.

NTPA senior vice president Lisa Bayliss supported the decision, but said it would stretch and already thin police force.

“This action is extraordinary, but necessary, and will have a significant impact on our frontline,” Ms Bayliss said.

“Siphoning officers from the frontline across the NT, to boost resources in Central Australia, is just robbing Peter to pay Paul.

“These additional police will have been pulled from essential frontline and support service areas.

“That means our already stretched workforce will have to plug the gaps in those areas, which will include an increase in overtime to cover shifts.”