Northern Territory Police Minister Kate Worden says a survey showing nearly all respondents in the NT Police believe the force is understaffed is "disappointing", as the union calls for urgent investment in the next budget.
Approximately 74 per cent of the 1,632-strong Northern Territory Police workforce responded to the survey put out by the NT Police Association (NTPA).
Of the respondents, 97 per cent said they do not believe there are enough police to do what is asked of them, and a similar number said they do not feel supported by the NT Government.
85 per cent, meanwhile, said they had considered leaving the force some time in the past year.
The results come after two officers were injured when an axe was thrown at their vehicle in the remote community of Nauiyu, bringing the safety and welfare of frontline workers in the Northern Territory into the spotlight.
NTPA president Paul McCue said the survey responses showed police by-and-large felt "very underwhelmed in terms of the support by government, in terms of the police numbers required to do the job".
He said the results were worse than a previous survey conducted last year.
"You cannot expect police to participate in their work load every single day, fighting out there for territorians, keeping our community safe with insufficient numbers — it is just not sustainable," he said.
Mr McCue expressed alarm at the low state of morale and rates of attrition within the NT Police workforce hitting 10 per cent, a figure reflected in the force's most recent annual report.
"What we want to see is a commitment from the government to make sure the upcoming budget reflects the concerns of our membership," he said.
Ms Worden said she was seeking a briefing with the NTPA and Mr McCue "to determine the nature of these results, and establish how to better assist our hard-working police officers".
"As minister for police, the initial results I have seen are disappointing and indicate that there is, as there always is, a lot of work to be done," she said.
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro reiterated her party's call for an inquiry into the state of the police force, a move rejected by the NT government in parliament.
She also called for Chief Minister Natasha Fyles to dump Ms Worden from the police portfolio.
"At a time when we are in a crime crisis, we now have a police crisis," she said.
"When you have 96.7 per cent of your entire police force saying they don't feel like the government supports them, you have a major issue at hand."
Ms Finocchiaro also pushed on the government to agree to the police union's pay demands as negotiations around an enterprise agreement continue.
'No expected timeframe' to replace crumbling facilities
The NT Police Association yesterday also called on the government to invest in replacing a number of 'temporary' police facilities and homes that were built by the federal government during the Intervention after 2007.
Many of these facilities are comprised of retrofitted shipping containers.
In response to questions from the ABC, an NT Police spokesman said the force had "no expected timeframe for when this accommodation will be replaced".
"These temporary facilities were designed for short-term, rotational, single accommodation only and are not capable of supporting a full time member deployment," the spokesman said.
Police listed 16 communities where these demountables were still in use, including the township of Peppimenarti where there has been unrest in recent months.
The spokesman added the police post at Peppimenarti was only staffed part-time because of a lack of suitable accommodation for officers, with support provided by officers in nearby communities.
The NTPA said extra funding would be needed from either the NT or federal governments to replace these posts.
