By Chris Williams
The last few days have seen the revelation that the current NZ Police Commissioner, Andrew Coster, failed to disclose important data to Parliament during deliberations for the multi-million dollar spend on a universal firearms register. This has led to the Council Of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) to call for his resignation. But this is just the latest in a string of failures by Commissioner Coster, not the least of which has been overseeing a catastrophic drop in public confidence in the NZ Police.
Let Us Count The Ways
1. Oversaw the mistreatment of peaceful protestors at Parliament
March 2022 saw the end of a months’-long protest on Parliament grounds against covid mandates. Notorious images such as the one below, of the overuse of force by officers against protestors, have led many to question the tactics condoned by police leadership.
The report by the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) into police handling of protestors at this event, was published on 14 December 2023. The report contains the following finding into the officer’s behaviour in the image above.
There were other complaints received by the IPCA, including one by a naked female protestor and another by an elderly man, which were upheld.
Sonic cannons were also used against protestors, which was not part of the IPCA’s investigation into the event.
3 months later,police confirmed they used 2 of their 17 sonic cannons "safely" (causes permanent hearing damage) on protestors
Chantelle Baker had a NZ sniper team commander at protest claiming forms of enhanced interrogation tactics like sonic weaponry were being used.Chippy???? pic.twitter.com/VsXtwXI6C5
— Cult-Chur' Bro (@CultChurBro) March 14, 2023
2. Oversaw mistreatment of peaceful women attending the appearance in Albert Park by Kellie-Jay Keen
The visit to Auckland by womens’ rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen (aka Posie Parker) in March 2023, led to shocking scenes of violence by trans activists against women there to listen to Keen. Attendees at the protest pointed to a surprising lack of action by police officers present, with at least one attendee recalling that an officer (Sgt Sean Richardson) told her “we’re not here to protect you”. Subsequent to the event, it was discovered that the police liaison with Rainbow Pride Auckland for the police presence at the event, was a well-known transwoman Rhona Stace, whose gender transition was covered in the media in 2018.
Police handling of the event is now the subject of an IPCA investigation, due to report back in the next few months.
3. Increase in lawlessness & fall in public confidence in police
The new year has begun with a spate of criminal activity, including that of an armed robbery in the Bayfair mall in Tauranga, twice in the same week.
Daylight robbery in New Zealand ???????? pic.twitter.com/H6MmSyshg3
— XXLBM ☝️ (@bidsman) January 29, 2024
The Police Minister Mark Mitchell has said he is conferring with Coster about doing something about this but as we have all been told many times before, the government does not interfere in police operational matters.
In fact, Coster has been known for some time by a less than favourable moniker, even among frontline police officers. He is often referred to as “Cuddles Coster”, for his perceived soft-on-crime approach to policing, on social media platforms.
This last Auckland Anniversary Weekend also saw the closure of the Taipa boat ramp in Northland, by a small group of activists from the Ngati Kahu iwi, ahead of the annual Doubtless Bay Fishing Classic. The blockade of the access road was announced almost a week in advance, began on Friday and ended after the competition. Many NZers were less than impressed that the illegal blockade of a public facility was not prevented by police.
While the blockade failed to stop the competition from proceeding, the protesters have been undeterred and have vowed to oppose future fishing competitions.
The latest Ministry of Justice NZ Crime & Victims Survey (NZCVS) is to November 2022. It shows that trust in the police fell in the 12 months prior, by a statistically significant amount.
This figure is one of the key performance indicators for every Commissioner. With the crime sprees having continued unabated in 2023, it is likely that this figure will continue to fall during Coster’s watch.
In fact, Coster has been known for some time by a less than favourable nickname, even among frontline police officers. He is often referred to as “Cuddles Coster”, for his perceived soft-on-crime approach to policing, on social media platforms.
4. Hiding information from Parliament, Author of the Arms Act legislation changes to create the registry despite having evidence against it.
As COLFO has already stated in its press release, Coster clearly had all the information to show almost all seized firearms as part of criminal activity, either had no serial numbers or had never been on a permit. As Police Commissioner, he was duty-bound to have revealed this to Parliament, rather than having clearly been on an agenda-path to ram through a massive, expensive project without evidence.
It isn’t as though we have an infinite amount of money to waste on blue-sky, feel-good projects that go nowhere. We already have enough of those, remember the “Road To Zero”? Aside from that, hiding important information that just doesn’t fit with your story is definitely not part of the job description.
5. Perceived slow investigation into shoplifting crimes committed by Green MP
Sensational allegations of shoplifting by now former Green MP Golriz Ghahraman, ushered in the new year. First it emerged that it was an incident that took place just before Christmas in Auckland. Then it slowly emerged that there were in fact, no less than three such incidents, that occurred not just in Auckland but also in Wellington. The final nail in the coffin for Ms Ghahraman’s political career was the leak of damning video evidence of one of those incidents, allegedly leaked by a shop owner frustrated at the lack of police action.
Ms Ghahraman is now due to appear in Court in Auckland in 2 days but that is reportedly referred to by police as “subject to public interest”.
If not for the victims themselves leaking the evidence publicly, leading to public outrage, would any action have been taken?
The fact that such a question even arises shows a distinct lack of confidence in Coster as Commissioner.
