Police Commissioner Andrew Coster during his end-of-tenure interview
Venkat Raman
Auckland, November 1, 2024
Andrew Coster announced on September 23, 2024 that he was resigning from the post of Police Commissioner to take up a new assignment with the government.
He will take charge as the Secretary to the Government, Social Investment and Chief Executive of the Social Investment Agency.
Mr Coster believes that the new role will be on a similar continuum to the place Police work.
“The new role is about trying to get the settings right at the top of the cliff, to get better outcomes for the large investment that the country has in social outcomes,” he told Indian Newslink during an exclusive interview last fortnight.
He will take charge of the new assignment on November 11, 2024.
You can watch the Video below.
Mr Coster would be about seven months short of his five-year tenure as the Police Commissioner but his time at the helm of the New Zealand Police saw some of the biggest challenges in the history of the service and in his career.
Serious Challenges
Covid-19 and the resultant lockdown periods of varying levels across the country, the 23-day standoff (February 6 to March 2, 2022) in front of Parliament in Wellington, the rising menace of methamphetamine and the worsening gang wars exacerbated by the return of criminals from Australia were among the challenges that Mr Coster faced as the Police Commissioner – challenges, which he said defined and defied crime and solutions.
“There are many diverse views on what the Police should be doing and how we should operate and that is probably among the hardest things to resolve. We are probably a more polarised community now than at any time in the past. I think some of the biggest challenges come from the way the public perceives crime and Policing,” he said.
The Parliament standoff in Wellington had its dangerous moments, exposing the Police to serious risks, but Mr Coster said that risk comes with the territory.
Listen to the audio podcast below.
The Death of a Constable
“Policing has an inherent risk because we are dealing with difficult people in difficult circumstances. I believe that Policing in New Zealand is still relatively safe. However bad things happen. Three months into my term as Commissioner, we lost Constable Matthew Hunt, in a shooting on the roadside. That sent shockwaves through the organisation. He was the first one to be killed in over ten years,” he said.
Twenty-eight-year-old Hunt was killed on June 19, 2020 when he and his colleague Constable David Goldfinch approached gang member Eli Epiha after he crashed his car in Massey, Auckland. Epiha was speeding away from the Traffic Police and opened fire as the officers approached to help.
“Since then, we have worked very hard and invested substantially to improve the training of our staff and the tactics and techniques that will keep them safe on the frontline. There is no doubt though that our environment is more hazardous than it was when I joined the Police. We see more firearms being used, particularly by gang members. Our staff deal with a range of very difficult situations every day,” Mr Coster said.
Australia amended Section 501 of its Migration Act (1958) in 2014, which allows the federal government to cancel the visas of convicted criminals. Over the past five years, more than 1500 New Zealand citizens have been deported from Australia under this Act.
The general belief is that this has led to a sharp increase in gang membership.
Mr Coster agreed, saying that gang crime has been prominent.
“Our environment has shifted as a consequence of Australian deportees and, they lead to new groups being established which in turn has increased the tensions within the gang scene. Such tensions often turn around the supply of drugs and who controls those markets. This is a serious challenge to the Police, he said.
Arms at arm’s length
But he said that gangs understand that the Police have to do their job.
“For the most part, the gangs respect the Police. That is partly the reason for the Police to remain unharmed, for the time being at least. We believe that the environment is finely balanced as of now and that our current way of working is keeping us as safe as we can be in that environment. However, if we see a situation where violence is being directed towards the Police, then we will revisit the policy. The New Zealand Police has a very good access to firearms when they need them,” Mr Coster said.
“What was the most challenging aspect of your job as the Police Commissioner?” we asked.
Mr Coster’s response was crisp and factual.
“The role itself is relatively more straightforward than managing the public and political environment that swirls around Policing. And, of course, we know that we have had a very law-and-order-focused election (in October 2023). As a public servant, the Police Commissioner has to avoid the politics of a situation. But I think that the most challenging part is managing the public dialogue on Policing issues. We are in a world in which not all the information that is circulating is fair and accurate and the social media plays an important part. We have to balance the fear of crime with the realities of what is happening around us,” he said.
An illustrious career
In a career spanning 28 years, Commissioner Coster has served in several cities around New Zealand and his rise to become the country’s top cop has been interesting.
Starting his job in the Counties Manukau District, Mr Coster was exposed to diverse cultures and behaviour in South Auckland.
“It was a great place to learn,” he said.
From Operational Policing to Intelligence Branch accorded him opportunities to investigate wide-ranging cases including covert national security operations.
Soon after the 9/11 incident in the United States of America, he graduated with a Law degree and worked at Meredith Connell, one of the largest law firms and Crown Solicitors in New Zealand. A year later, he returned to the Police to take up frontline roles in South Auckland.
Thereafter he was appointed to the post of Area Commander, Auckland City Central.
Mr Coster moved to the Police National Headquarters in 2015 and took up the responsibility for implementing the Payroll Project. After a year’s stint at the Justice Ministry as the Deputy Chief Executive, he returned to the Police Headquarters and performed several duties before being appointed Police Commissioner in April 2020.
Social Investment Agency
Mr Coster said that he was looking forward to his new assignment as the Secretary of the Social Investment Ministry and Chief Executive of the Social Investment Agency.
The Social Investment Agency was established on July 1, 2024 to (a) set standards for social investment practice to ensure that there is consistency across government agencies and contracted providers (b) facilitate the creation of necessary data and evidence infrastructure for social investment (c) work with other agencies to apply the Social Investment Approach and (d) lead an ongoing review of social sector spending to measure outcomes.
In a Paper submitted to the Cabinet, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis described Social Investment as a ‘systematic way of using data, evidence and modern analytics to invest in an earlier and better intervention that can effectively break cycles of dependence, inter-generational poverty and disadvantage.
“It provides the framework for how we understand who we need to invest in and what works for those people, as well as how we can measure progress to ensure that what we are doing is working. Social investment is not just about new spending. It is also about what we are already spending and getting better outcomes from that expenditure. Despite the government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes that we want for all New Zealanders. While some people benefit from short-term one-off support, many vulnerable New Zealanders with highly complex social issues continue to have very difficult lives,” she said.
An exciting opportunity
Mr Coster hopes to bring to his new assignment knowledge and understanding of various communities, especially when things do not go well.
“This is an exciting opportunity. I will miss being a part of the New Zealand Police. It is a marvellous organisation. I will continue to advocate for Police recruitment. Policing is a career that I would recommend to any young person with an interest,” he said.
Mr Coster said that the unpredictable aspect of Policing makes the job interesting.
“On any given day or shift, you do not know what you are going to deal with but in many ways, one of my biggest challenges has been trying to balance the, competing interests that come into play,” he said.
