Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Gerard Maley, has rounded on the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory's handling of the "current mass exodus of police officers", saying he must take responsibility.
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But according to the NT Labor Government, there are almost 100 more officers on the beat when compared to the same time last year.
Mr Maley said that according to the Northern Territory Police Association, high work loads and chronic understaffing have forced almost 60 officers to leave the force over the last six months.
"This points to an alarming escalation of the attrition rate which is now sitting at around 10 officers every month. That's double the attrition rate before the last election," Mr Maley said.
"The Chief Minister is blaming interstate Police Force recruitment drives, but it's hard to believe so many officers would give up generous pay and conditions to move interstate, without additional factors contributing to them leaving; including internal discipline and the promotional system.
"The message from the peak body representing our officers is that police are under-staffed and under resourced right across the board."
Mr Maley highlighted a contingent of 30 officers, due to begin duties in March, had been brought forward and doubled to 60 members in an effort to "plug the gap left by this ballooning attrition rate".
"[It's] putting additional, and unnecessary, pressure on the Police College," Mr Maley said.
"A 2020 survey of NT officers found more than 91 per cent of respondents did not believe the government's recruitment program was effective, almost 90 per cent thought Labor didn't understand policing issues and more than 85 per cent thought there was too much political interference in operational matters."
Last year in July, the NT Government announced a $20 million plan to recruit an extra 131 police and support staff to boost remote areas.
Despite this, in september, NT Senator Sam McMahon denounced the government, saying remote policing across the NT had reached crisis point, as recruitment efforts failed to keep up.
"One of the issues that is consistently brought up is lack of staff," she said at the time.
In response to questions over how the NT Government planned to bolster and maintain the force, a spokeswoman for Minister of Police, Nicole Manison, said this government has "more police on the beat than ever before".
"Our police are incredibly important. We value the work they do and that's why we've invested more in our police than any other Territory government," she said.
"The Northern Territory Government recruits above retention rates. We have delivered record funding for police in this budget - nearly $500 million, which is nearly $100 million more than the CLP delivered in their final budget.
"There are almost 100 more officers on the beat when compared to the same time last year and we have 90 recruits currently in the college, who will graduate March 2021 and April 2021."
A number of questions on Katherine's staffing levels were put to Assistant Police Commissioner Michael White, with many left unanswered.
He says the "Katherine police station is close to fully staffed".