Historic Events

The first police presence in the Northern Territory was the part time Rural Constabulary based at Escape Cliffs but is was disbanded along with that settlement.

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The NT Police Force began as a mounted force and had horses attached to ordinary stations until the 1970s. There is still a mounted section within the Territory Support Division.

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The Northern Territory Police Force proper began in 1870 when South Australia Police Corporal Paul Foelsche was commissioned as Sub-Inspector of Police for Palmerston in the Northern Territory in charge of six other mounted officers.  

The first police station was situated on th e current site of the Administrator's offices on The Esplanade in what is now Darwin. At that time Central Australia and North Australia were separately administered and the station at Alice Springs was first commanded by Mounted Constable Shirley. The forces expanded across the Territory and a decade after federation the Northern Territory was transferred to the Commonwealth Government.  In 1931 both Central and North regions were merged and placed under the control of the Administrator in Darwin.

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After self government in 1978 the NT Police became a statutory authority under the control of the newly formed Northern Territory Government.  It has expanded to a force of over 1000 officers to meet the demands of policing what is still considered to be the frontier of Australia. During this journey there have been many characters and stories as unique as the Territory they served.  

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The horses have generally been replaced with more modern transport but even with the advances in communications and equipment the Territory is a vast and challenging environment to police and the job of a Constable in the Northern Territory still has unique characteristics.

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