Logo a bad look after NT police claims on tactics

A T-shirt depicting police training mantra ‘knife equals gun’, has emerged after the organisation appeared to gaslight its own officers by saying it ‘does not use this phrase’.

The T-shirt produced after a 2018 NT police course.

A T-shirt designed by Northern Territory Police defensive tactics instructors, depicting their training mantra “knife equals gun”, has emerged after the organisation this week appeared to gaslight its own officers by saying it “does not use this phrase”.

The shirt, produced by cops who completed the 2018 ­defensive tactics instructor course, bears an emblem of the decades-old maxim used to teach police how to respond to offenders armed with edged weapons.

The Australian on Thursday revealed that NT Police was revising its use-of-force training – telling officers that the catchphrase “knife equals gun” no longer automatically applies – ahead of the coronial inquest into Kumanjayi Walker’s death.

On Tuesday NT Police disseminated an internal broadcast to all sworn members to “address an identified erroneous belief or misconception amongst some members that ‘knife equals gun’ in all circumstances when members are faced with a physical threat to themselves or others during their operational duties”.

The broadcast, authorised by NT Police College Commander Hege Burns, said the phrase “knife equals gun” may have derived from past training and has “since been used incorrectly, poorly explained or wrongfully interpreted”. “This matter is brought to the attention of all sworn members as the phrase was subject of proceedings during the Supreme Court trial of Constable Zachary Rolfe,” it said.

In March Constable Rolfe was found not guilty of murdering Walker at the outback community of Yuendumu after shooting the Indigenous teenager during an arrest in November 2019.

The police phrase “knife equals gun” loomed large throughout his five-week trial ­because Walker had stabbed Constable Rolfe with a pair of scissors before the cop shot him three times. Constable Rolfe’s lawyer, David Edwardson QC, said in court that his client was “taught, trained and drilled as a member of the NT Police force that edged weapons equals gun”.

Senior Sergeant Andrew Barram – who was the crown’s use-of-force expert at the trial – was also the instructor of the 2018 defensive tactics instructor course and in charge of the Operational ­Safety Tactics Training Unit when the shirt was produced.

When shown the shirt in court, Sergeant Barram denied having seen it or signed off on its design.

“Actually, I wasn’t aware,” he said during cross examination. “I know that they make T-shirts. I didn’t have any involvement in the making of the T-shirts. I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve seen that design.”

Sergeant Barram told the court it was a “police tradition” to design a shirt at the end of a course.

“Most courses produce their own T-shirts or polo shirts and quite often they invent the design themselves, but it’s not a police uniform thing,” he said.

Mr Edwardson on Thursday told The Australian that NT Police’s claim it does not teach “knife equals gun” was “absolute fiction”. “Not only is it a complete misstatement of the evidence that was called at trial, but it beggars belief,” he said. “It really is another reflection on the NT Police executive not taking responsibility for their role in this appalling investigation.”

Sergeant Barram confirmed in court that Constable Rolfe had been taught, during his recruit training, the appropriate response to an edged weapon was to draw his firearm.

Mr Edwardson called the memo “absolute nonsense”. “Even their own expert acknowledged in court the notion that ‘edged weapon equals gun’,” he said. “That is a mantra, or if you like an instruction, that’s given to all law enforcement agencies, right around the country and is not unique to the Northern Territory.”

Tuesday’s internal police broadcast directly contradicted the police witnesses called during Constable Rolfe’s trial, who all testified to being taught that the appropriate response when faced with an edged weapon was to draw their firearm and be prepared to use it.

“Operational safety training does not use this phrase as it bears no true resemblance in relation to a member’s situational awareness, available tactical options and decision making when confronted with a weapon, including an edged weapon,” the memo states.

Bond University associate professor Terry Goldsworthy, who spent almost 30 years as a Queensland police officer before becoming an academic, said in most cases “the firearm is the correct weapon to go to”.

“That’s all good, but if you look at the Rolfe incident, there was no time for those things,” he said.

“They weren’t aware that Walker was armed with a knife when they were talking to him ­initially and then it exploded.”