President's Column - When leadership is needed
“This is allowed for in the new Policing Act, where the Governor-General (on the recommendation of the Prime Minister) can appoint the Acting Commissioner – over-riding the default situation where the longest serving Deputy is automatically Acting Commissioner. This must become the future standard when the Commissioner is absent.”
Some things just have to be said. The New Zealand Police had a leadership failure following the recent tragic accidental shooting of Halatau Naitoko in Auckland. It was a structural failure rather than a personal one.
The Commissioner was out of the country at the time of the shooting. This was a perfectly normal and acceptable situation for any Commissioner.
In his absence, the senior Deputy, Lyn Provost, was the Acting Commissioner. Significantly, Lyn is a non-constabulary employee, and while she brings extremely valuable skills to her role with Police, she is not uniformed and does not have policing experience.
Following the shooting, the Auckland Commanders, Assistant Commissioner Steve Shortland and Superintendent George Fraser, did an excellent job of fronting the issue in the media, explaining the situation to the nation in a very sensitive and professional manner.
As the issue grew, what was then required was a response from the person in charge; the Acting Commissioner. The Police Minister was commenting, the Prime Minister was commenting, but other than the odd written comment, there was no one to front the issue nationally from Police National Headquarters. It simply had to be a uniformed officer carrying the title of Acting Commissioner. Nothing less would have conveyed the necessary leadership and reassurance not only to the country but also, importantly, to rank and file police officers themselves. We were under attack and we needed leadership.
This is not an attack on any individual. It is simply an observation of the obvious – that at any time, but especially in times of crisis, the head of the New Zealand Police must be someone with policing experience who can comment with authority on operational matters.
As a result of the vacuum, we had the ridiculous situation of the Commissioner arriving back to take
charge four days after the shooting, the earliest he could get home, and being met by a media scrum demanding to speak to the leader of the Police. The Commissioner recovered the situation well. But unfortunately, it simply gave impetus to the media who were looking for a new angle by that time.
It must not be allowed to happen again. In future, when the Commissioner is absent, he must be relieved by a police officer.
This is allowed for in the new Policing Act, where the Governor-General (on the recommendation of the Prime Minister) can appoint the Acting Commissioner – over-riding the default situation where the longest serving Deputy is automatically Acting Commissioner. This must become the future standard when the Commissioner is absent.
This Government is talking tough on law and order. Strong and visible Police leadership, not management, is the essence of that. The Prime Minister John Key should use his power under the new Policing Act to make sure that leadership is always there.
In future, when Police leadership needs to front up and operational decisions need to be made and conveyed, the person fronting must be a police officer. End of story.
