Northern Territory Police have again been asked to roll out an appropriate camera system in the back of police vehicles, after an inquest into the death of a young apprentice delivered its findings.
Dale Walkinshaw, 23, self-harmed in the cage of a NT police van after being arrested for drink-driving in the early hours of the morning in September last year and died three days later from his injuries.
The renewed recommendation comes three years after an internal review by NT Police also recommended this action.
On the night of his arrest, Mr Walkinshaw expressed concern about a female passenger who was taken to hospital with pains in her back after he crashed a friend's ute in Parap.
His phone and other items were removed and he was being taken to Darwin hospital for further checks after returning a blood-alcohol reading of 0.149.
When the police van arrived at the hospital, Mr Walkinshaw had self-harmed in the back and died three days later as a result of his injuries.
After hearing extensive evidence during a coronial inquest, coroner Greg Cavanagh today found the cause of death was self-inflicted.
He made a note that Mr Walkinshaw was in a vulnerable state as he thought he had killed the girl he was travelling with and was under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Today, one of the coroner's recommendations was that the Commissioner of Police ensure cameras are installed in caged vehicles so police can observe people who are inside at all times.
Self-harm incidents not uncommon in police vans
Mr Cavanagh noted that as a coroner, he became aware of the limited visibility in NT Police vans in 2012 while presiding over the watch-house death of Kwementyaye Briscoe.
This death in custody was ultimately deemed preventable but was caused when Mr Briscoe smuggled a bottle of rum into a caged vehicle and died in a cell partly due to alcohol toxicity.
As a result of the recommendations from Mr Briscoe's inquest, five vehicles were fitted with lighting and two cameras that were able to be viewed by officers in the passenger cabin of the van.
Four years later, he said not all police vehicles had cameras installed and it did not seem to be a police priority.
"Given the relative frequency of the incidents and near-misses, one might be forgiven for thinking that the risks due to poor visibility into caged vehicles would be very high on the police register," he said.
Between 2012 and 2016 there were 16 occasions when people in custody attempted to commit suicide in the back of caged police vehicles by hanging or strangulation.
The court found in six of those cases, the person was not detected until they were semi-conscious or unconscious.
The coroner noted it was tragic that it took the death of Mr Walkinshaw to focus the minds of senior police and it was not until preparations for his inquest that police recognised the frequency of self-harm attempts in the caged area of police vehicles.
Plan for cameras 'fell off the radar'
An internal review in 2013 estimated the fitting out of all police caged vehicles would cost a total of $132,000 at $823 per vehicle.
The officer undertaking the survey recommended the CCTV system be rolled out Territory-wide and said "when considering cost versus benefit, the benefit outweighs the cost".
When asked why the plan did not eventuate, Deputy Commissioner Kate Vanderlaan told Mr Cavanagh the project "fell off the radar".
The coroner noted that in their affidavits, neither of the police commissioners made the concession that police had failed to install the CCTV within an appropriate time, or there was a need to prioritise the CCTV rollout to mitigate the ongoing risk of self-harm due to lack of visibility in the back of NT Police vans.
Outside of court, the police commissioners said they would accept the coroner's recommendations in full.
