NT Police discipline cops after 130 complaints

Internal investigators are wading through a mound of vexatious complaints to uncover credible cases of cops behaving badly.

UPDATE FRI: INTERNAL investigators are wading through a mound of vexatious and trivial complaints to uncover credible cases of cops behaving badly.

The latest NT PFES annual report found of the 886 complaints and internal investigations made against police, 130 or 15 per cent were serious enough to require disciplinary action.

Investigations into 397 internal complaints found nearly a third were sustained, with 114 findings. Ninety cases were dismissed, and nine were suspended, while 184 were ongoing with no outcomes yet determined.

Of the four public complaints alleging serious misconduct or maladministration, two were upheld. While a third of the 75 public complaints for minor misconduct were also judged to be true.

A NT Police spokesman said the vast majority of public complaints were deemed to be trivial, frivolous, vexatious, or not made in good faith.

He said only a third of the 489 original complaints were treated as serious enough to go through the Complaint Resolution Process, resulting in 10 findings of formal disciplinary action.

He said these complaints were “minuscule” compared to the number of daily interactions responding to reported jobs, patrols, community events, traffic stops, random breath testing stations, investigations, managing critical incidents and emergency events.

EARLIER: THREE police members have been booted from the force, after almost 900 complaints were made about badly behaving cops.

The NT PFES annual report revealed 737 police members were the subject of public complaints, while another 480 officers were the subject of an internal investigation.

NT police employs more than 1600 full-time workers.

The bulk of internal investigations looked into police behaviour in the courtroom, with 86 complaints responding to inadequately prepared cases.

More than 100 officers were questioned over the failed prosecution ­incidents.

Alleged wild-driving landed 41 officers in trouble, with 27 departmental crash complaints investigated in the last financial year.

There were 35 investigations into custody incidents involving 82 officers, including three serious cases.

Police investigated reports of bullying and inappropriate behaviour by 12 employees.

There was a 16 per cent increase in the number of public complaints compared to last year, including a rise in serious allegations against officers. There were four public complaints of serious misconduct or maladministration made about eight police officers and one police auxiliary member.

There was also an increase in the number of minor misconducts the public reported about cops, with 75 formal complaints and a third of those were sustained after an investigation.

The investigations were not just ­limited to how the officers acted while in uniform, with 58 police members the subject of complaints about family violence.

One person was dismissed and two had their probation terminated.

This does not take into account the number of officers fired as a result of the vaccine mandate.

But 11 officers resigned before they could be punished.

Four police members had their ­salaries docked, while one had their rank reduced.

Three people were shifted around the force following the misconduct, with one person moved to a different policing location and two transferred to other positions.

Formal warnings were given to 58, while 31 members were put on a good behaviour period and 65 were given ­remedial advice.

Originally published as NT Police discipline cops after 130 complaints