NT POLICE ATTRITION: THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE

The Northern Territory Police Association (NTPA) is demanding the Police Minister stop cherry picking attrition data and provide a full and accurate reflection of the NT Police Force’s (NTPF) separation rate.

NTPA President Nathan Finn said the Police Minister isn’t being upfront and is simply highlighting what he thinks looks good for Government.

“After Minister Potter asserted that the NTPF attrition rate was 6.14%, the NTPA sought urgent clarification on how that figure was calculated and over what time period. Our repeated requests have been ignored.

“In the absence of any formal clarification, it appears Minister Potter is relying on selective data over the nine month Estimates period (1 July 2023 – 31 March 2024), which does not accurately represent the NTPF attrition rate over a full year.

“NTPA analysis of the Police Gazette, which details every resignation, retirement, and dismissal from the NTPF shows, over the 12 months to 31 March 2024, there were:

• 134 resignations

• 19 retirements

• 4 dismissals

• TOTAL: 157

“As of 31 March 2024, there were 1659.12 full time equivalent (FTE) police officers¹, which means the attrition rate is actually sitting around 9.4%.

“Minister Potter is either misleading the public, or simply doesn’t know what the actual attrition rate is. Either way this mistaken or misleading information does a dis-service to our hard-working members.

“How can our members have confidence in the Police Minister’s commitment to ensuring the police force is adequately staffed when he either doesn’t know or is downplaying the extent of the problem. Whether it be dishonesty or incompetence, our members deserve better.

“You can’t fix a problem if you’re sugar coating it for political gain”, said Mr Finn.

¹ https://parliament.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/1395827/Answer-to-Written-Question-698-Police,-Fire-and-Emergency-Services.pdf