The Northern Territory coroner has heard Constable Zachary Rolfe "repeatedly" engaged in "concerning behaviour", including not turning on his body-worn camera and making arrests which resulted in injuries, prior to Kumanjayi Walker's death.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains an image of a person who has died, used with the permission of their family.
A portion of a police report prepared for Coroner Elisabeth Armitage was read to the inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker on Tuesday.
It noted Superintendent Virginia Read of the NT Police professional standards command raised concerns about Constable Rolfe's use of force in the months before he shot the 19-year-old Warlpiri-Luritja man during an attempted arrest in Yuendumu.
Kumanjayi Walker died in November 2019 from gunshot wounds inflicted by the officer, who fired his Glock three times after Mr Walker stabbed him in the shoulder with a pair of scissors.
Constable Rolfe was found not guilty of all charges after a Supreme Court trial in March, and judge Armitage is currently presiding over a three-month inquest into the shooting.
The inquest heard despite Superintendent Read's concerns, there was "no record of any action taken by Alice Springs supervisors", nor "any indication of action being taken" in relation to Constable Rolfe.
The court heard Constable Rolfe had been involved in 46 use-of-force incidents through his three years on the Alice Springs beat, none of which amounted to findings of unnecessary, excessive force.
Superintendent Jody Nobbs, who was not in Constable Rolfe's chain of command, told the coroner he was "surprised" to hear no action had been taken.
"[If] this was an officer in your command … [and] you thought highly of his tactical skills, you wanted to encourage him to be able to manage those tactical skills and avoid unnecessary use of force ... how would you respond?" Counsel Assisting the Coroner, Dr Peggy Dwyer, asked.
"I'd want to have an appreciation of how we got to where we got to," Superintendent Nobbs said.
"I can't say definitively … [but] I think it's a product of behaviours that have been modelled and emulated.
"It took a long time in my career to identify the substantial importance of community engagement as opposed to what I, as a young constable, saw as the traditional policing model which was overt … policing tactics."
Superintendent Nobbs told the coroner young officers needed "good, solid" mentors and that concerning behaviour in police could be the result of anything from struggling to cope in the job, or having mental health concerns, to "wilful disobedience".
He said he was "extremely disappointed" to hear two of Constable Rolfe's police sergeants, who were "critical" to his development as an officer, had been involved in a series of text exchanges with the constable.
The texts used racist language and dismissed jokes about "acting up" for body-worn cameras.
Use-of-force incidents reviewed
Body-worn footage of the 2018 arrest of a 14-year-old boy was played to the coroner, in which Constable Rolfe is seen throwing a bin to ground, to pull out the teenager who was hiding inside.
Superintendent Nobbs agreed it was "violent" and "unnecessary", telling the coroner he was "perplexed" as to how the use of force in that incident was deemed appropriate by the professional standards command.
He noted he did not have access to the full details about the investigation, and the court heard an ombudsman report was ultimately closed.
Judge Armitage said among the issues being explored by the inquest was the effectiveness of use of force reviews within the police force.
"The question is where do we go from here? Were those actions appropriate and adequate?" Judge Armitage said.
Acting Senior Sergeant Alistair Gall, who audited a series of Constable Rolfe's use of force reports, told the inquest he was unaware of the extent of complaints against the officer.
The inquest also heard a local court judge had found, in early 2019, Constable Rolfe had "fabricated evidence" in relation to the arrest of Malcolm Ryder, which allegedly used force.
"Had you been aware of that, it might have been your view that Constable Rolfe was not suitable for deployment as a general duties police officer in the Northern Territory? At least pending the resolution of an investigation?" Counsel Assisting, Patrick Coleridge, asked.
"It's possible … but I couldn't categorically say yes or no," Acting Senior Sergeant Gall replied.
Mr Coleridge: "I take it that you did not know that in the lead up to his deployment in November of 2019, that crime command was preparing a memorandum to the Director of Public Prosecutions seeking advice in relation to an offence of perjury?
Acting Senior Sergeant Gall: "I did not know that, your Honour."
Mr Coleridge: "That would be a very significant investigation, would it not?"
Acting Senior Sergeant Gall: "Yes, it would."
Constable Rolfe was ultimately never charged and investigations into the arrest of Mr Ryder have since been closed.
Acting Senior Sergeant Gall told the inquest he considered Constable Rolfe one of the most competent officers on his patrol group who was "keen to seek out opportunities to arrest".
"He was intelligent, he was a good communicator, and if I ask Zach Rolfe to do something, he would do it," Acting Senior Sergeant Gall said.
Mr Coleridge asked: "Because he was a useful police officer, a skilful, useful and intelligent police officer, it didn't concern you that there were a growing number of use of force complaints. Is that right?"
Acting Senior Sergeant Gall: "I was aware of a couple of use of force complaints."
"Reflecting upon it now, if at the time of the deployment to Yuendumu, or for that matter, any occasion when I'm tasking him … if I had been aware holistically of every single one of his use of forces, where there may have been issues, yes, that may have impacted on my tasking of Zach Rolfe."
Acting Senior Sergeant Gall told the coroner despite being both a manager and friend of Constable Rolfe, he did not think it was difficult to review his use of force reports.
Under cross examination by Constable Rolfe's lawyer, Acting Senior Sergeant Gall said it was "not unusual" for police officers to be the subject of complaints and didn't consider 46 use of force reports over three years to be an unusually high number.
He agreed if "every complaint" against police was taken on face value, it would be a "very light" police force.
"[A complaint] doesn't necessarily mean they're a bad police officer," Luke Officer, for Constable Rolfe, asked.
"Correct," Acting Senior Sergeant Gall said.
