Police Commissioner Andrew Coster quits for new role
- Andrew Coster is stepping down as Police Commissioner after four years.
- Coster will take up a role as the new Chief of the Social Investment Agency.
- He was set to finish his role in April but will now resign early to start his new position on November 11.
I fear we are in a very dangerous place.
During the Dumb Lives Matter protest on Parliament’s Lawns, Coster saved NZ from its own self by resisting sending in the Riot Police.
Sure they ended up going in thanks to Mallard’s blunder after blunder after blunder, but Coster saved us from ourselves over that terrible incident.
He knew he would be judged harshly by history, yes the middle class Wellingtonians saw Nazis everywhere, but he knew this was far broader than bad faith actors, he knew half of them were Labour/Green voters, he knew riot Police could spark something far greater.
He held the line against the brutal jackboot of the State.
In the end Mallard’s bewildering incompetence and terrible judgment made conflict inevitable.
This Government urgently needs an over the top tough on crime symbolism to detract from the economic collapse caused by their austerity budget.
Luxon wants to send 500 armed police into a Gang Tang to remove Gang Patches.
Coster knows he can never sign off on that.
National knows Coster could never sign off on that.
So Coster had been offered a plump bullshit job as part of the Big Data algorithm Investment Experiment that Bill English is trying to con the Government into.
By getting rid of Coster, a guard rail has been bribed out of existence.
Whoever the Government picks as the new Commissioner will get the job based on whether or not they think starting a civil war against the Gangs by invading their funerals using heavy handed tactics is worth the salary.
We will miss Andrew Coster soon enough.
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He was given the job because it would have been an embarasment had he joined the exodus of cops leaving NZ for a real life .He knows that current government race based crime measures are not the way to go so he has taken up a patsy position where he does not have to look like an idiot.There will be no or very little funding for his new role and no need to show any improvement in the lives of 3 million kiwis as this government is only interested in the top 10%.One only has to look at the current hospital builds that are being stopped at Whangarei ,nelson and Dunedin to see that the wellfare of kiwis is not high on the list of priorities of this government .The 3 billion given to land lords could have paid for these hospitals or even the clearly much needed roll on roll off ferries .But no we must give free money to the already well off instead of making sure that every kiwi can get health care .
Gordon walker “ … there will be no or very little funding for his new role.” Correct. And surely Coster must know this, having presided over an under-funded, under-paid police force, apart from himself on about $700.00O per annum. His job is to implement English’s social engineering program almost certainly sans the wherewithal to do so. You rightly point out that this government is geared towards helping the “haves” at the expense of the “ have-nots” and IMO, neither Luxon or Coster have the magical skills to perform some biblical loaves and fishes miracle. In the current climate of chronic health underfunding causing desperate people pain and suffering, it’s hard not to see this appointment as window dressing.
National have always wanted to impose US style policing in this country, Coster stood in their way.
started with the former National leader Simon Bridges calling Coster “wokester”, the current Police Minister
Yes millsy and why on earth would Coster want to work for such a shit and abusive government…see below…
” Mark Mitchell compared Coster’s policing style to “having cups of tea with gang members”, coalition party leader David Seymour’s called him “smarmy”, “Commissioner Gaslight” and called for his resignation, “Cuddles Coster” is what some in Cabinet have been heard to call him.”
This government is dangerous, when you have party leaders and MPs lacking maturity. Seymour is not fit to be in government.
Mallard, idiot as he may be, wasn’t to blame for the police, for some reason being sent to the Parliamentary protest without protective head gear, and sustaining some horrible injuries. Police inaction at the ‘Let Woman Speak’ Albert Park event, and apparently monitoring the situation while women got terrorised and beaten, has left many women pretty sceptical about contemporary policing.Hopefully Coster will produce the report on that before he goes to participate in Bill English’s social experiment.
The Let Women Speak event was a Christian Pentecostal Evangalical Protesant hate fest, that wanted LGBT people to be chased back in the closet. Christians who call for the execution of gays deserve everything they get,.
Mr Coster’s possie was always going to be tenuous under CoC.
The Natzos want the true culture of the NZ plods to be paramount–racial profiling, violent, macho, misogynist, anti union (yes I know cops have a union, but it is more a protection racket like the US ones), and supporting the neo liberal state over free speech action for progressive causes like Climate Disaster.
Rural Otago village standoff: Unofficial roadblocks, nunchucks and cannabis cultivation https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/rural-otago-village-standoff-unofficial-roadblocks-nunchucks-and-cannabis-cultivation/3HRJIPRO2VCH3MGKIYLAT6LKRM/undefined
Mosgiel police are setting up charges on innocent people, using drug dealers as witnesses to made up events, the police are facilitating a drug operation and hit jobs. They are using the totally corrupt Dunedin courts to destroy innocent peoples lives. This body corporate is a massive disgusting fraud. The police here are criminals.
That was the second time a woman was used to ‘set up’ an ‘event’ on this road, the police switch it to being a road rage event on the person following the slow vehicle. Last time an attempted car jacking happened with three people in the slow car. The police wrote it up as the following car was tailgating and had instigated the event. Other events of trying to get a driving conviction on an innocent person have been repeatedly happening. This is organised crime, police, defence lawyers all working together for criminal fraud and drug operations at Waipori Falls. The ex-chairman just ran away after setting up a disgusting malicious fraud.
Congratulations this is what ‘left leaning’ looks like. Total corruption with ‘amazing stories’ attached to justify bullshit all the while feeling good about destroying peoples lives.
What’s it got to do with ‘left-leaning’?
I repect Coster, because he was a very good Commissioner. As a qualified lawyer he’s a smart guy. And maybe some criticism of him was because of tall poppy, that’s just the way it is in NZ. From his point of view, I’m glad that he’s moving to another top position in the public service. Once someone gets to the rank of Commissioner, then they ussually retire from Police when they leave that role. Staying on at a lower rank could appear to be a demotion. The police are a big organisation full of all sorts of people, some good and some not so good and some bad, and the Commissioner can’t be expected to sort out all the issues, in such an organistion overnight. A proper watchdog instead of the useless IPCA would be one thing, but we all know that will never happen. I don’t know his age, but I would have preferred he stayed and have his term extended, but hopefully that next Commissioner will be of a high standard, and without any controversial baggage that later becomes known. And hopefully the decision will will not be politically influenced behind the scenes, but I’d suggest I’m probably wrong about that count, because again that’s just the way it is in NZ. Good luck Andrew 🙂
Coster was a good cop ham strung by Labour’s soft on crime approach .
In the last few months that he has shown what he could achieve. He would seem to be the perfect fit for the English scheme.
I like him and always thought he caught an unfair amount of abuse from both sides. I usually hate to agree with Tova Obrien about anything but she made a good point about politicians hurling abuse at people (like Coster) that really can’t reply because they have to be politically neutral.
He wasn’t perfect but I struggle to think of anyone that is.
rubbish the police were catching record amounts of drugs coming to NZ long before these muppets came along .He is now jumping ship before the shit hits the fan the first time 500 police turn up to a tangi as he knows full well that is not the solution .Collecting gang patches will not reduce crime in anyway and I would say it may actually increase crime .If every gang member handed in their patch they then become unable to be seen so it will be easier to commit a crime and not be identified .Also this a huge amount of resources being put into 8000 people while 175k are being assulted each year .I read a story yesterday about crime in Whakatane where it was pointed out that offenders were 47% Maori .40% Pakeha and the rest were other nationalities which flies in the face of often spoken lie that maori commit 80% of the crime in NZ .
Proof please, factual documented evidence that “Labour was soft on crime”. Not holding my breath though.
It is Trevor so don’t expect evidence
How long will he last in the job when he goes to the government and points out he needs 100 billion to reverse the social decline in the country .Having another mouth piece spouting on about lazy people and how lazy the sick and dying are and how happy people are living in a cardboard box under abridge with their 3 kids because they have been thrown on the employment scrap heap to make some employer feel good .Also how can he justify working people living in poverty after all his owners keep telling us getting a job driving a digger is the way to grow at the same time as they close every construction site in NZ down .
Both bribed and pushed. A thoughtful human being like Coster could not work for long with a head-banging moron like Mitchell – it had to end, amicably or otherwise.
I would have hoped that Coster was smart enough to see through Billy English’s “social investment” nonsense for what it is: a pseudo-scientific attempt to divert blame for social ills away from how the economy deliberately redistributes wealth upwards, and onto the individual failings and deficiencies of people at the bottom. It is old-style Victorian morality dressed up with a gloss of science for respectability. As an ex-Treasury operative, little Billy is a master of superficially plausible intellectual justifications for cruelty.
Maybe there’s a glimmer of hope, and Coster will be able humanise the punitive monster that social investment will become if it was left to Billy (and his family?).
Where is Gideon Tait when you need him?
Ok what’s happening is that Coster was not going to be able to stay in his position under this government, and so it has proved as he does not fit the governments jack boot agenda. It was clear from the start he wouldn’t remain and his new position really is lipstick on a pig. Too bad for him for his career to end this way. Mitchell wants to create a private security force to combat the violence he is formenting with the gangs over the patches, he has already admitted that his own private security team existed because governments can’t do the job. It’s all part of the Atlas Network plan:privatisation at all cost, reduce government. Can’t believe how easy it has been for this government to dismantle practically everything, so swiftly. Labourtake note, you shoulda burnt your political capital while you had it.
The role became a poison chalice for Costner. The so called “soft approach by Labour” was actually the “evidence-based approach” derived from research both overseas and here in NZ. The approach taken by CoC and their supporters is the failed “get tough on crime” that has been proven to be ineffective in changing criminal behaviour.
So CoC are taking NZ backwards again. What will CoC say when this approach is unsuccessful (again) – I suspect the usual deny, deflect and deceive will be to the fore.
Coster comes across as an intelligent, sincere person trying to do the best in a very difficult role, he got kicked around like a political football.
Tighty righty doesn’t do evidence based, he’s too busy swooning over the poster of everyone’s favourite American guffaw John Key.
You guys are hilarious! Say hello to Comrade Stalin for me.
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