New Police Minister Mark Mitchell yesterday released an unprecedented "letter of expectation" spelling out his demands for Andrew Coster.
"Every New Zealander deserves to feel safe in their home, community and workplace," the letter begins.
"This government wants to see a strong focus on public safety and victims, while ensuring that there are real consequences for crime and serious offending."
Mr Mitchell asks Mr Coster to "restore law and order in our communities" in a continuation of his political rhetoric during this year's election campaign.
The governing parties - centre-right National, right-wing Act and populists New Zealand First - all campaigned on harsher sentences for criminals and youth offender, and a crackdown on gangs.
It is tough to overstate the importance of public safety issues to the change of government, with National's campaign chair Chris Bishop telling his party conference in June "this election is about law and order".
Watch pre-election testy exchange between Mark Mitchell and Andrew Coster
The right-leaning parties attacked the previous government for an upswing in retail crime, including ram-raids, holding news conferences outside dairies after they had been attacked.
New Zealand has also seen swollen gang numbers and gang activity, in part due to deportees from Australia who are New Zealand-born but have little connection to their homeland and join gangs.
Dame Jacinda Ardern's Labour government had a focus on rehabilitation and reducing incarceration, setting a target of having 30 per cent fewer inmates.
Mr Coster was tied to those priorities - earning the nickname "Cuddles" - and the incoming government was tipped to find a way to move him from his post.
Police Commissioners are appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister, with Mr Coster appointed to a five-year term in April 2020, with that commission affording him a degree of protection.
After a series of one-on-one meetings between Mr Mitchell and Mr Coster, the pair agreed on the atypical letter of expectations, crafted with the assistance of Public Service Commissioner Peter Hughes given the legal sensitivities.
"We needed a reset," Mr Mitchell told Newstalk ZB this morning.
"We obviously have got a pretty serious agenda in terms of returning public safety and so I wanted to have a high level of confidence in (Mr Coster)."
Under questioning from conservative talkback host Mike Hosking, Mr Mitchell said the letter gave him faith in Mr Coster to continue.
"In the meeting that we had, he expressly understood clearly whatever expectations are, what we want to do, what we want to achieve, and he's fully aligned and on board," he said.
Mr Coster had been serving under a Labour government that had taken a “wrecking ball” to public safety, he said.
”He’s serving now under a National government that takes public safety seriously.”
Mr Mitchell defended Coster against Hosking’s suggestion that he was “soft”, saying his long police career included leadership roles including Commander of the Armed Offenders Squad in South Auckland.
”I respect that service.”
The letter said Coster must report to Mitchell on progress on the expectations, as well as brief him on issues of significance and high public interest - a standard procedure. In return, Mitchell promised to provide the tools and resources needed.
Union boss coy on Coster's suitability
Police Association president Chris Cahill did not give such a favourable endorsement when asked by Mike Hosking today whether Mr Coster was still “the man for the job”, The New Zealand Herald reported.
Mr Cahill responded with: “Well, he’s the man that’s there and we’ve got to move on.”
Regarding the letter and expectations from the new minister, Mr Cahill said he expected mostly positive reactions from ground-level staff.
“I think most frontline cops will be on board with the reset in focus. I think they’ll be very enthusiastic, it’s pretty clear now what they want is to get out there and put some pressure on criminals and put some pressure on crime.”
The letter showed police were being asked to work less in the prevention area and more in direct response, he said.
“I think you can’t say that Andrew Coster didn’t have ideas around the prevention space and long-term changes.
“What he’s been told now is that he’s got to focus on the here and now, so I think it’s pretty clear in that letter of expectation that that’s what he’s got to focus on.”
The ideas in the letter were good in theory, but police need more resources to achieve the goals set out, he believed.
“The challenge, of course, is who is going to do all of this if we’re losing cops to Australia.”
Hosking pointed out that the coalition deal (between National, Act and New Zealand First parties to form a government) promised 500 more officers, but Mr Cahill said he wasn’t sure what this would look like in reality.
“We’d like to see that word extra, rather than just new. We already get 450 new [officers] a year, so that needs to be clarified.”
Police need government organisations to do their job in the crime prevention area so police can focus on responding to crime, he said.
“I want to see the letter of expectations going to the CEO of Health [NZ], the CEO of Oranga Tamariki - they’ve got to step in and do their job, because it can’t just be police.”
New law and order policies
• A gangs crackdown, including banning gang patches, public gatherings and associating, with extra powers to police to search gang members' properties
• Harsher sentencing, including gang membership made an aggravating factor
• Gun law reform, moving to a graduated system, with gang members prevented from owning guns
• Hiring 500 new police officers
• Return of "three strikes" policy, giving mandatory sentences for repeat offenders
• New offence for assaults on first responders and coward punches
• Repeat youth offenders as young as 10 to be electronically monitored, or attend military-run boot camps
• Increase prison capacity, including youth justice beds
- AAP and NZ Herald
