Francesca Rudkin: We all want to feel safe in our homes

I'm quite impressed that Mark Mitchell has made his letter of expectations to the Police Commissioner, Andrew Coster, public.  

Of course, it's normal for an incoming Police Minister to outline expectations to the Police Commissioner, a Commissioner, who's often been employed by the previous government. But this is the first time it has been released.  

While campaigning, Mitchell was reluctant to back Coster and initially I thought he'd released this letter to poke the bear, to put Coster on notice. And in a way, he has. Even though Mitchell doesn't have the ability to hire or fire the Police Commissioner, that's a job for the Public Service Commissioner, with the final call made by the Prime Minister. So, the reality is that Mitchell is stuck with Coster until April 2025, which is when his term finishes, unless he resigns beforehand.  

Mitchell might have put the Commissioner on notice, but by being so open and transparent, which I actually really appreciate, he's also put himself on notice. Not only has he outlined the government's expectations, but he has also stated that he's fully committed to backing the police by providing the tools and resources to restore law and order in our communities.  

Mitchell also put his big boy pants on, accepted that he has to work with Coster and is going about it in a constructive and positive way. Mitchell’s determined to see this as a reset, an opportunity to put a line in the sand between the last government's policies, approach to policing, and give Coster the chance to fulfil National's expectations.  

He doesn't really have a choice at the moment, Mitchell knows that, but is dealing with it maturely. When questioned by Mike Hosking this morning, he said Coster deserves a chance: 

“I think that he deserves a chance. I think that he's had a long career in the police and some of those roles have meant that he's had leadership roles in South Auckland, he's been an AOS Commander. So you know I respect that service and, and he's been given a chance now under a National Government to get out to support his frontline, provide the leadership, and start to deliver on what we want.” 

So, is Coster the man for the job to put these ambitious expectations into play? Only time will tell. The public service is, in theory, politically neutral. Coster knows it is his job to fulfil the current government's policies, and these policies are hardly news to him. They were campaigned on long and hard so if he wants the job, and he's up for the job, it's up to him.  

We all want to feel safe in our homes, our communities and workplaces. We're hoping that this focus on public safety and victims and real consequences for crime and serious offending, we're really hoping it's going to bring better outcomes. But at the end of the day, it's going to be about resources, and this is something that Police Association President Chris Cahill is concerned about. 

“The challenge, of course, is who's going to do all this stuff if we're losing cops to Australia? We'd like to see the word extra rather than just new. We already get 450 new a year, so that needs to be clarified that it's actually extra and not just new. I'll tell you what I want to see.  I want to see the letter of expectations going to the CEO of Health, the CEO of Oranga Tamariki, that they’re going to step in and do their job, ‘cause it can’t just be Police. So, I want to see the same letters, they need to be published as well.” 

And look, it makes total sense to involve other departments and take a multi-agency approach to allow the police to get back to the core police work, that's what so many of us are keen to see happen, but only if everyone's on the same page.  

If the Ministry of Health or Oranga Tamariki don't have the capacity or resources to deal with these problems, they're just passing the buck with little improvement. And no improvement in outcomes. And we want to feel safe in our homes and our community and our workplace, just like Mark Mitchell has stated.  

So, expectations are all good and well, but without the resources to put them in place, the new government risks being all talk and no action. 

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