Senior police have been cleared of improper conduct over a decision to charge an officer with murdering a young Aboriginal man during a botched arrest in an outback township.
Northern Territory police constable Zachary Rolfe was charged with murdering 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker in November 2019, just days after he shot him in the community of Yuendumu.
Mr Rolfe, no longer an officer, was acquitted of all charges against him in a jury trial in March 2022.
Later that month the NT's Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC) announced it would investigate allegations of improper conduct by senior officers over the decision to charge Mr Rolfe.
ICAC delegate Stephen Rushton SC has now handed down his report, finding no evidence of improper conduct but criticising a lack of record keeping in police decision-making.
"I am satisfied that none of the allegations of improper conduct have been made out," he said in his 50-page report.
Mr Rolfe alleged misconduct and conflicts of interest by senior police including former NT police commissioner Michael Murphy and current commissioner Martin Dole.
He alleged the decision to charge him occurred without advice from the NT Director of Public Prosecutions and that plans to arrest him were behind a direction he fly to Darwin following the shooting.
Mr Dole was also alleged to have a conflict of interest due to his close ties to the Yuendumu community.
Mr Rushton found Mr Rolfe had not been directed to fly to Darwin, the DPP had formed a preliminary opinion Mr Rolfe murdered Mr Walker, and Mr Dole had no conflict of interest.
The report found that concern for Mr Rolfe’s welfare and safety was the sole reason he was booked to fly to Darwin, given the volatile mood of the communities in Alice Springs and Yuendumu after the shooting.
It also found that based on body-worn camera footage and evidence from other officers present the DPP’s preliminary opinion was that “at face value" it looked like Mr Rolfe had murdered Mr Walker.
Mr Rushton made no formal recommendations in his report.
But he advised NT Police to keep better records in serious criminal investigations, noting in the Rolfe case there was no critical decision log, no recordings of key meetings and no official minutes.
Following an inquest into Mr Walker's death, coroner Elisabeth Armitage in July this year found Mr Rolfe to be racist and the NT Police Force to have "the hallmarks of institutionalised racism".
NT Police has launched measures to eliminate racism within the force.
