N. Territory Police Commissioner refuses to resign

Nearly a week after a survey of Northern Territory Police officers showed that a majority of people do not have confidence in the force's leadership, Commissioner Jamie Chalker rejected calls for his resignation.

Commissioner Chalker told waiting media that surveys are never going to be popular for police management. Have you considered tendering your resignation? The Commissioner was asked.

He said no.

A survey of 1,044 police officers revealed that 79.7 per cent of officers did not have confidence in Commissioner Chalker, the highest number of participants in an NT police union survey.

92.6 per cent of respondents said they did not believe there were enough officers in the Northern Territory to carry out the work expected of them, while 79.4 per cent rated morale in the force as low or very low.

The Union president, Paul McCue, said the results showed the force was in a crisis and that morale was at an all-time low. He said there needed to be an urgent review into staffing which is completely insufficient to undertake the roles our members are being forced to do.

Multiple police regions asked for a vote of no confidence in the police commissioner ahead of the union's annual conference this week.

The commissioner has not held a press conference or spoken publicly since March.

Commissioner Chalker said he was looking forward to meeting with union delegates on his way to speak at a private session of the police association conference.

He said that we have some good themes that come out of that survey and I'm looking forward to the meeting with the delegates to have a chat about it.

According to an order of business document seen by the ABC, Commissioner Chalker was scheduled to address a panel, along with Deputy Commissioner Murray Smalpage and Acting Deputy Commissioner Michael White.

Both deputies reaffirmed their support for Commissioner Chalker as they entered the conference.

In an internal email sent to union members last week, McCue said that any further action to be considered would be discussed at the annual conference.

Kate Worden, the police minister, is expected to address the conference at an open session on Friday.