NT Police urged to prioritise mental health screenings: Inquest into constable's death

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3 days ago

Warning: This story contains references to suicide and self-harm and will be distressing for some readers.
An expert in trauma and suicide has urged the Northern Territory Police Force to conduct yearly mental health screenings, telling a coronial inquest into the death of a veteran officer that better checks would likely have flagged him as an "officer at risk".
At 44 years old, after more than two decades on the front line and stints in remote communities, Constable Michael Deutrom took his own life in April 2022, devastating colleagues and casting a stark light on the toll long years in the service could take.
His death was one of three NT police suicide deaths in the first half of 2022.
Earlier in the inquest, which began in May, the coroner heard Constable Deutrom was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression around the time of his death — after years of exposure to traumatic jobs, false allegations of sexual assault against him and anxiety over losing his job.
On Friday, when the inquest continued in the Darwin Local Court, it was heard that while working in the NT remote community of Kintore, Constable Deutrom had reported he was sleeping just three hours a night, was "virtually on call 24 hours a day" and was burnt out and feeling isolated.
A year before his death in 2022, he and a colleague submitted an incident report to the NT Police Force (NTPF) stating that crime in the community was "starting to take its toll" and that he was having "adverse mental wellbeing effects" — triggering the NTPF Support and Wellbeing Unit to reach out.
According to court documents, Constable Deutrom was referred to an outside psychologist in Darwin and attended "two or three" sessions.
However, PTSD expert Professor Alexander McFarlane testified on Friday that Constable Deutrom had likely been grappling with underlying mental health issues for far longer than recognised, which underscored the need for routine psychological screening within the NTPF.
In particular, Professor McFarlane emphasised the importance of support both before and after deployment to a remote community, where isolation was especially acute.
The NTPF currently employs a single clinical psychologist, supplemented by a team of social workers and counsellors.
But the court heard that level of resourcing was inadequate to meet the mental health screening and support needs of the force.
Speaking outside court, Nathan Finn, the president of the Northern Territory Police Association, said that while NTPF policy called for officers to undergo an annual "well check", he had not received a single one during his more than two decades on the front line.
He said that despite grappling with his own job-related trauma, he was never offered a mental health check-up, and fear of being seen as unfit for duty kept him from seeking help on his own.
Above all, he said, the stigma surrounding mental health was deeply entrenched during his tenure and remained "alive and well" in the force today.
During his testimony, Professor McFarlane told the court that — while the police force started off with an "unusually healthy group of people", after many are ruled out during the initial screening process — police officers who worked more than 10 years were almost twice as likely to experience psychological distress, and six times more likely to experience symptoms of PTSD.
He said police officers were often symptomatic for "some time" before they simply could not function but, because the job typically attracted people who "naturally walk towards danger" and pride themselves on their ability to function, they often minimised health problems.
He said that given the duration of Constable Deutrom's service and exposure to traumatic jobs, the NTPF should have taken his incident report more seriously.
"There were other facts in his records … that would have pointed to him potentially being an officer at risk," Professor McFarlane told the court.
"If an officer was significantly depressed and had suicidal ideation, I think that's a circumstance where a psychiatrist should immediately be involved.
The court heard that numerous reports on suicide prevention had been handed down over the years — including the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, which last year recommended improved access to timely and quality mental health screenings — yet rates of police suicide had doubled across all Australian jurisdictions over the past eight years.
When asked why the rates had continued to climb, Professor McFarlane told the court that the Productivity Commission had uncovered a range of "bureaucratic inefficiencies".
"Often there is more than enough information to know about problems, but bureaucratic organisations are essentially very bad at … effectively implementing the necessary systems of care," he said.
On top of urging the introduction of routine mental health screenings, Professor McFarlane recommended that officers serving six-month stints in remote communities receive a minimum of three weeks' leave, comparable to the periods defence force personnel receive after overseas deployments.
The inquest continues this month.