Police Commissioner Andrew Coster’s new job a win-win for National

Jared Savage covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006 and has won a dozen journalism awards in that time, including twice being named Reporter of the Year. He is also the author of Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise.

ANALYSIS

Finding a new job for Police Commissioner Andrew Coster was an elegant solution for all parties.

Coster and the Police Minister Mark Mitchell were not on the same page when it came to policing philosophy. His early exit means National can choose someone it wants in charge as anti-gang laws come into force in November.

As the new chief executive of the Social Investment Agency, Coster can put his undoubted talents to use in tackling complex issues which our country struggles with.

It’s a role in which his head for policy can match his heart for improving the lives of vulnerable people; a thoughtful approach which led to Coster’s promotion to Police Commissioner in the first place. Ironically, not being forceful enough contributed to Coster’s fall from favour.

“I know he’ll lead a team of 13,000 people across the country with positivity, inclusion and integrity,” said Dame Jacinda Ardern, when she was Prime Minister in 2020.

“I’ve observed his passion for a police force that knows its strength lies in what it can achieve with the community it serves.”

At 44, Coster became the youngest commissioner in New Zealand history and a surprise appointment over another candidate with more operational experience.

But he had an inspiring vision for how the police should work in a multicultural society, which put him on the same philosophical wavelength as the Labour Government.

Coster was picked to move the police forward into a new era.

But balancing long-term strategic change with the reality of the daily grind is tricky for any organisation, let alone the 24/7 nature of policing dealing with dangerous people in volatile situations.

To make it harder, New Zealand was in the middle of the first Covid-19 lockdown when Coster stepped into the top job.

It’s almost impossible to make generational progress in the police when staff are stuck guarding MIQ hotels, or manning checkpoints around Auckland.

Coming out of the chaotic pandemic years, burned-out police officers then had to deal with a spike in gang shootings, ram raids and genuine fears for their own safety.

There is always a disconnect between the front line and Police National Headquarters in Wellington, but many staff felt the gap widened during this time.

While his predecessors Mike Bush and Peter Marshall were comfortable spending time in stations around the country, Coster did not connect with staff as naturally.

The strategic vision for change which impressed Ardern did not translate as easily for the troops on the front line, who were struggling with the day-to-day reality of the job.

The public felt uneasy about crime too, which was picked up by political parties. The Labour Government was derided as “soft on crime” by the National Party, and the Police Commissioner was often criticised in the same breath.

“Policing by consent” is a guiding philosophy for democratic police forces around the world dating back nearly 200 years, and a phrase often used by Coster to explain his approach.

In 1829, Sir Robert Peel, the British Home Secretary, advocated for the establishment of a police service that would seek to use minimum force to maintain law and order.

The concept of policing by consent is that, essentially, the public needs to approve of, and co-operate with, the police – who are entrusted with great powers – to successfully keep the peace on behalf of the community.

But the National Party believed his adherence to the mantra went too far, with MPs getting into a heated exchange with the Police Commissioner at a select committee hearing in Parliament.

“Let me tell you what policing by consent means,” Coster replied firmly. “When we look overseas and we see the violent clashes between communities and police – over Covid lockdowns, over Black Lives Matter – that is what it looks like when police lose the consent of their communities.”

Of course, less than a year later, the grounds of Parliament were the scene of the most ugly and violent clashes between police and protesters since the 1981 Springbok Tour, with the police executive criticised for failing to disperse the occupation until it was far too late.

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster and Police Minister Mark Mitchell watch as the Comanchero bikes are scrapped. The pair have had an awkward working relationship.

The writing was on the wall even before National was elected to power.

Buried in the middle of a press statement announcing law and order policies was a bland sentence with far more significance than the promised anti-gang crackdown which made headlines.

“In addition to funding a net increase in police officers, National will scrap Labour’s policing-by-consent philosophy, which has been a failure, and encourage a back-to-basics policing model,” Mitchell, National’s police spokesman at the time, said.

It was an attack on Labour, expected in the heat of an election campaign, but really a thinly veiled swipe at National’s intended target.

On becoming the new Police Minister, Mitchell was slow to express confidence in Coster, then sent a letter of expectations to the Police Commissioner which was released publicly.

The role is statutorily independent of the Government, so National couldn’t sack Coster without an extraordinarily good reason before his five-year term ended in April next year.

In the same way Labour wanted to choose someone aligned with their philosophies, so did National.

With the anti-gang laws coming into force in November, Mitchell clearly wanted a new leader in place, sooner rather than later, to make the Government’s flagship law and order policies a reality.

The movement of Coster sideways into an influential role as the head of the Social Investment Agency, starting November, makes that possible.

As far as National is concerned, it’s a win-win.

Because while he might have been given the cold shoulder by Mitchell, Coster has been warmly welcomed into his new job by Nicola Willis.

She’s the Minister for Social Investment, which is a huge priority for National.

First championed by Sir Bill English in the previous National-led Government, social investment is a model which uses data for state agencies to provide support as early as possible to break the cycle of poverty and deprivation.

Coster himself says the new role came with a “mix of emotions”.

“Whilst it might seem like a big shift, from running one of our largest operational agencies to heading up a small central agency, there is an important consistency from my perspective – the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of New Zealanders.”