Millions of dollars promised for policing in the Northern Territory are yet to hit the ground, despite the jurisdiction dealing with a chronic police shortage and a prolonged crime wave.
Earlier this year, during a fly-in visit to Alice Springs, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced $14.2 million in federal funding would be put towards frontline territory policing.
That has not been rolled out, with the Commonwealth yet to formally confirm where it would be directed.
Senior police have said the NT is short more than 300 officers to adequately deal with demand.
Northern Territory Police Association (NTPA) president Paul McCue said new bail law changes implemented by the NT government this week were only going to put more pressure on a struggling force.
"The situation we find ourselves in is the government is introducing new legislation around trespass [and] bail laws," Mr McCue said.
"All of that is going to impact the police's ability to do their job.
"We're already struggling to just put a van on the road … we don't have the numbers to cope with [the work] we've got, let alone new legislation."
The new bail laws were passed yesterday following the stabbing death of 20-year-old Declan Laverty, which triggered a flood of public outcry over escalating crime rates in the Northern Territory.
NT Police Minister Kate Worden last night pledged the government was doing what it could to make sure there were enough officers on the streets to deal with the rising workload.
"We have recruited more police than any other territory government and our police college continues to remain in overdrive," she said.
But Mr McCue said the government had not been listening to feedback and complaints from the ground about the severity of the shortage.
He said officers were overstretched, fatigued and working "enormous amounts of overtime just to fill a roster [to] make sure there is a response".
"We know, for example, domestic and family violence has increased over 150 per cent in the last 10 years, break-ins have increased 50 per cent, yet, our constables, who are the bread and butter of frontline policing, have only increased by 40 over the last 10 years," he said.
"That is simply not sustainable."
$14m for policing pledged for rollout in coming months
Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker earlier this week said his agency was "sweating on that formal announcement coming out" to see if the promised $14 million would go towards expanding the permanent police presence in Alice Springs.
The ABC has confirmed that the agreement is likely to be finalised by the start of May, with sources pledging the money would lead to more police on the ground during the next couple of months.
The NT government would not directly confirm this but said in a statement it was in "active discussions with the Australian government in relation to this funding".
While Mr McCue welcomed the funding for additional police resources, he said it was "frustrating" there was no clear plan for how it would be spent and when.
He pointed to recent comments from the NT's deputy commissioner, who highlighted the agency needed around $500 million more in infrastructure to do its job and said the funding should be spent across the Territory.
