News

May 07, 2023

Police Commissioner defends fleeing driver policy and retail crime unit's size

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster has hit back at criticism about changes to the

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster has hit back at criticism about changes to the fleeing driver policy and defended the size of the new retail crime team, which has eight dedicated staff.

Coster appeared before a Parliamentary committee on Thursday, where MPs quizzed him on the police response to retail crime, car chases and officer recruitment. Under questioning, he acknowledged a recent decision to undertake more police chases could cost lives and asked parliamentarians for their support for his decision.

He also revealed eight staff were employed in the new retail crime unit, which has been highlighted as one of the main police responses to an increase in robberies and shoplifting. The National Retail Investigation Support Unit (NRISU) was set up late in 2021 to target recidivist burglars and thieves.

Police Minister Ginny Andersen said during the unit's 19 months, it had helped lay more than 1200 charges against 195 people.

READ MORE: * Police officer charged with assaulting two people after fleeing driver incident * Driver of stolen car crashes head on into Hamilton bus * New police plan to keep officers safe, amid rising firearms use

Coster defended the size of the unit.

"Just bear in mind what they’re doing, they’re pulling together cases in a way where they can be investigated ... and then initiate the prosecution."

Andersen said it had secured tougher sentences for repeat offenders, by bundling together charges and evidence. Of the prosecutions brought by the unit, she said 30% ended in custodial sentences – either jail time or home detention.

"Instead of that being left just to the officer in charge, by having that backup, we're having a far higher rate of custodial sentences," she said.

National Party police spokesperson Mark Mitchell said the public, and businesses that had faced theft, wouldn't be assured the police were taking this seriously with a team of just eight people.

"It does some great work behind the scenes, but with just eight people – that's not a great way to give the public confidence that you’re across the issue," he said.

Coster was also quizzed about his U-turn on the fleeing driver policy, which restricted high speed pursuits in 2020 after a series of deadly crashes.

At the end of May, Coster largely reversed much of that policy to allow police to undertake more chases.

The police commissioner has faced criticism from all sides, with concern that more chases will cost lives. On the other side, National Party justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith questioned Coster about why it took so long for him to U-turn on the fleeing driver policy.

Goldsmith said the 2020 policy was an "inexplicable decision" from Coster, but the commissioner hit back at that characterisation.

"The original decision is quite explicable, which is that in a decade before that change we had 70 people die in the course of fleeing driver events while police were in pursuit," he said.

"We were responding to a public outcry and a very strong push from the Independent Police Conduct Authority."

He said international evidence at the time showed police were right to reduce the number of high speed chases officers were engaged in. Coster accepted that allowing more chases could lead to more crashes, and said he expected to be challenged on that.

"I can assure you that the first person to die in a fleeing driver event, post this change of policy, I will be being asked whether it's my fault because I changed the policy," he told Goldsmith.

"There is no happy middle ground here. There is no good option. We are damned if we do, damned if we don't.

"It is true that the number of people who have fled has increased, and the proportion of people being held to account decreased. That's why we're rebalancing, but I look forward to your full support when media is grilling me over the first fleeing driver death."

Both National members and Andersen indicated they supported the changed fleeing driver policy.