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SFO REPORT
Every day I speak with our members and often I will have informal chats with those members leaving us. Reasons for leaving did not include dissatisfaction with our pay and conditions, it seems to stem to a lack of empathy, a lack of support, a lack of confidence and a lack of appreciation. Peter Stowers Southern Field Officer
SOUTHERN FIELD OFFICER’S REPORT On Thursday the 29th of July and on behalf of the NTPA, I was given the honour to attend the funeral service of former Constable Robert ‘Robbie’ Charles Willetts, registered number 1898, aged 57. A humble and quietly spoken man and a well-respected member of the policing family. On behalf of Fay and Robbie’s family and friends I would like to pass on their most sincere appreciation and sense of pride they felt that Commissioner Jamie Chalker APM had taken the time to travel to Mount Isa and deliver on behalf of Robbie’s police family a very emotional eulogy paying the utmost respect and homage to his friend and work colleague. Thank you also to Ray Musgrave and partner Katherine Hampton for accompanying me on the long drive to and from Mt Isa and also Robbie’s squad mate Acting Assistant Commissioner
Travis Wurst, former OIC Batchelor and friend, Supt James Alan O’Brien and Supt Mark Grieve. I will never forget how Mount Isa Police controlled an unusually long slow-moving motorcade to the Mount Isa Cemetery where a riderless horse silently guided the procession on foot to Robbie’s final resting place. RIP. When you consider the concerning resignation and retirement numbers for the March quarter of 23 and June quarter of 54 and the yet to be released number for the September quarter and then factor in, Covid duties, leave, medical inability, part time, restricted duties, suspension, or those members dismissed
from the Force, you would be excused for wondering who is left holding our front line. Across the Territory we are losing some of our best people, hundreds of years of combined experience and knowledge gone. Retention strategies appear not to focus on holding onto experience but on ramping up recruitment. Thank you to the willing, experienced, and dependable few who constantly put their hands up to fill a hole in a roster and are heavily relied upon to mentor and keep safe our many new graduates from the Police College. Every day I speak with our members and often I will have informal chats with those members leaving us.
Reasons for leaving did not include dissatisfaction with our pay and conditions, it seems to stem to a lack of empathy, a lack of support, a lack of confidence and a lack of appreciation. Recently I asked two of our members who appeared to be struggling why they keep putting their hand up for overtime. They advised that it was not a matter of money but more an obligation to ensure there were enough vans on the road to keep their mates safe. When the expectation of duty above self was first brandished around the workplace it felt a general lack of respect for our members time off, and a failure to recognise or take into consideration that members have lives and
