Andrew Coster’s time in top police job ‘tainted’ by ‘soft on crime’ narrative - The Front Page

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster became an easy target for National's "soft on crime" narrative. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Andrew Coster probably knows his time as police commissioner will be “tainted” by the “soft on crime” narrative pedalled by National when it was in Opposition, one commentator says.

NZ Herald investigative journalist Jared Savage told The Front Page his role became politicised as the country was plunged into lockdown.

“All of a sudden, the police are having to deal with accusations of living in a police state. We couldn’t go out, we couldn’t visit people, you know, we couldn’t travel outside of Auckland. Then when we came out of that time there were a lot of gang shootings and ram raids. That time became polarising.”

However, some of the accusations levelled at Coster were unfair, Savage said.

He was described as a “wokester” by then National Party leader Simon Bridges while Mark Mitchell said Coster’s approach to policing by consent was akin to having “cups of tea with a gang member”.

So, the writing was on the wall for Coster once National came into power last year and Mitchell became Minister of Police, Savage said.

“It was always going to be a difficult and sort of awkward marriage of inconvenience where they put on appearances publicly, but I think they were kind of like oil and water which doesn’t really mix that well,” he said.

In effect Coster had been “moved sideways” into a role with the Social Investment Agency, Savage said.

“I think it’s an elegant solution to a problem in which National wanted to have a new commissioner in to be more aligned with them philosophically - to drive forward their anti-gang legislation coming in November,” he said.

Savage said Coster’s legacy would be a complicated one to unpick. His vision for police didn’t always align with the front line.

“Previous police commissioners like Mike Bush, Peter Marshall were quite good at traveling around the country and just quite at ease talking with the troops and showing their face here and there and shaking a few hands,” he said.

Coster had many strengths, but this was not one of them, Savage said.

“I think that meant that his vision to change the police, in a generational kind of aspect going forward, didn’t translate that well, particularly when staff were there,” he said.

The man tipped to replace him, was seen as more operational, Savage said.

“Given what National are wanting to do to crack down on gangs and in crime and things like that, I would say that they would be leading towards Richard Chambers as the lead contender for that job,” Savage said.

Those would be his key priorities, but just as important was restoring morale within police, Savage said.

“I think they feel pretty stepped on and trodden on and under attack - often literally in the last few years. We have seen people leaving for Australia and I think there’s a bit of work to be done there,” he said.

Listen to the full episode to hear more about Andrew Coster’s record on crime.

The podcast is presented by Susie Nordqvist, a former presenter and producer for TVNZ and Newshub. She began her career as a newspaper reporter and was a finalist for best newsreader at the NZ Radio & Podcast Awards for her work at Newstalk ZB.

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