NT’s new police commissioner Michael Murphy vows to restore his troops’ trust and stability to his workforce

The Northern Territory‘s new top cop is pleading with almost 250 former police officers to rejoin the force in his bid to heal the rifts in his organisation following a ‘tumultuous’ few years.

New Northern Territory police commissioner Michael Murphy at his desk in Darwin.

The Northern Territory’s new top cop is pleading with almost 250 former police officers to rejoin the force in a bid to heal rifts in the organisation following a ­“tumultuous” few years sparked by a fatal police shooting and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Michael Murphy said rebuilding trust with his troops and stemming record attrition rates were his most urgent priorities following his appointment as the NT’s 14th police commissioner.

Mr Murphy, who was also ­appointed Fire and Emergency Services chief executive, conceded the fatal police shooting of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker by former constable Zachary Rolfe at Yuendumu in November 2019 had sparked a protracted period of turmoil for the Territory’s cops.

Mr Rolfe was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death after a five-week Supreme Court trial in 2022. A coronial inquest into Walker’s death is due to resume next month.

“Yuendumu was very disruptive to the workforce and was very divisive – that’s a fact,” Mr Murphy said. “It has impacted the stability, even the recent departure of the commissioner.

“It’s about offering stability and I think my appointment now will offer that back to the workforce.”

During the past three years, an unprecedented 450 officers have left the force. About a third of them retired, but most resigned.

“We saw a lot of resignations, through and post-Covid,” Mr Murphy said. “It’s been a tumultuous three years and our crime types have been demanding. To be honest, we need to work on trust as well. There’s been a lack of trust so we need to heal that with the workforce and make them feel that they can trust us.”

Mr Murphy said the organisation had to change how it treated its people so they felt “respected and valued” in order to provide a “better service to the community as well”.

The force is now recruiting aggressively to bolster its ranks while trying to address the cause of its high attrition rate.

“Some people don’t really want to be honest with us (when leaving) because they don’t want to burn bridges, but it comes down to not being happy in the workplace and issues with leadership, at the executive level as well,” he said.

“That’s really one of my priorities, understanding what all that looks like so we can change it and make people feel connected and want to stay … to retain knowledgeable police officers.

“We’ve just gone through an enterprise bargaining agreement … we’re really well remunerated, but how do we keep people here? It’s about understanding why they are leaving.”

Of the 450 who have left, NT Police has written to 232 inviting them back.

The new commissioner is ­concerned about losing more members to lateral recruitment programs currently advertising in other jurisdictions. “As NT cops, we’re really good at our job, we’re good police and that’s why people love recruiting us,” he said.

While all sections of the police force are screaming out for resources, he said the “frontline is the one that’s really under the pump”.

“And we’re looking at the harmful effects of policing. Dealing with homicides, suicides or road crashes where children die,” he said. “Responding to jobs where there’s an absolute crisis and people are being assaulted violently.

“You see the worst, most of the time … the dark side of humanity.”

The trauma his members face at work has taken a toll, with about 120 officers currently on long-term leave with either physical or psychological injuries.

“And that’s a fair chunk of officers who can’t be deployed out of 1670,” he said.

“One of our priorities now is the wellbeing of our officers, because work goes home with you.

“There is a psychological ­impact of providing the service we do and it has an impact on officers’ family life.”

Reforming the organisation’s “outdated” disciplinary system is also on his agenda.

“Humans are fallible. You don’t come to work to make mistakes but that happens and you have to learn from it and correct your ­behaviour or make sure that you’re better informed next time,” he said.

“We do have a junior workforce and the current arrangement says when we open a disciplinary process, you get served notices and the language is reflective of the legislation with words like ‘disgraceful’ and ‘improper’.

“Then a process is undertaken which impacts upon the employee, with them often taking a few days sick leave.

“I think we can actually change all that by just having mature, courageous conversations to fix things. If behaviours don’t change … then firmer intervention can be taken.”

Mr Murphy had been acting in the top job since April, when Chief Minister Natasha Fyles asked former commissioner Jamie Chalker to resign. Mr Chalker swiftly launched legal action, which ­resulted in a confidential settlement and his “retirement”.

Mr Murphy dismissed the suggestion his predecessor’s departure had overshadowed his promotion.

“I don’t think so. Obviously, we are pretty good at dealing with ­crises. I’m fairly calm,” he said.

“You know, we’ve been here before. We’ve had a couple of commissioners leave quite suddenly. When (former commissioner) Reece Kershaw was appointed the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, we found out by watching the news. We still have a laugh about that because he was ­obviously sworn to secrecy.”

The 51-year-old said he planned to reshape the force’s leadership now that positions in the executive are opening up with ­Assistant Commissioner Bruce Porter and Deputy Commissioner Murray Smallage retiring.

When asked if his appointment was the beginning of a new era for NT Police, without missing a beat, Mr Murphy replied: “It has to be.”