NT Police in the dark on how many guns are ‘missing’ or ‘unaccounted for’ after cop pleads guilty to stealing Glock

NT Police has no idea how many of its officers’ Glocks may or may not be circulating in the community or in the hands of criminals, the NT News can reveal.

• Cop’s cocaine dealing arose out of drug-fuelled affair with fellow officer, court hears
• Cocaine cop Daniel Keelan pleads guilty to stealing service weapon for ‘own use’

NT POLICE has no idea how many of its officers’ Glocks may or may not be circulating in the community or in the hands of criminals, the NT News can reveal.

It comes after the Supreme Court heard cocaine dealing former constable Daniel Keelan took his service weapon home and kept it in a bedside drawer for almost three years without his bosses’ knowledge.

On Friday, Crown prosecutor Naomi Loudon told the court “there was an investigation in relation to it and the firearm was simply reported as missing”.

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When Justice Jenny Blokland asked whether there was a record of the firearm having been allocated to Keelan, Ms Loudon said “as far as police were aware, that firearm was unaccounted for”.

In response to questions from the NT News, an NT Police spokeswoman initially refused to say how many other guns were “missing” or “unaccounted for” before conceding the force simply didn’t know.

“Northern Territory Police Force (NTPF) apply strict governance around the handling and storage of firearms and the NTPF are governed by both internal policies and procedures and legislative frameworks in the NT relating to firearms,” Acting Commander Tony Deutrom said in a statement.

“NTPF continue to improve and evaluate the management of internal firearms and the public can rest assured that vigorous, accountable and robust compliance regimes are in place.

“The accounting of firearms is part of NTPF governance and accountability with regular spot checks and audits undertaken.

“NTPFES risk management and internal audit is currently conducting an agency wide firearms audit to identify areas of improvement in recording and accountability as part of a commitment to continuous improvement in this area.”

The spokeswoman also claimed police couldn’t comment on how Keelan’s gun slipped through the cracks for almost three years, while the case remained “before the courts”.

But when queried, the spokeswoman could not point to any legal principle that supported that assertion and stopped responding to email.

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On Friday, Ms Loudon said the purpose of Keelan being issued the Glock was “that it was easily concealable while he was carrying out his duties”.

“It was in his possession and at any time he could have had that on his person,” she said.

Keelan has pleaded guilty to supplying a fellow officer with less than a commercial quantity of cocaine and stealing his police issue Glock and returns to court for sentencing in April.

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