The name that popped up was Nick Kaldas, a revered former NSW Police officer, and a mate of Hadley’s for more than 30 years.

But the phone call was not about a catch up. Instead, Kaldas was calling to lobby for a friend.

That friend was NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb who had once again found herself embroiled in a controversy, with speculation increasing about whether Premier Chris Minns would have to step in and make a change.

Webb had strayed off-side with not only Hadley, but his radio counterpart Ben Fordham, very early on in her tenure as the state’s first female top cop.

She knew something needed to change.

Survival in Sydney for any public figure hinges on relationships.

Friends in the right places count more in Australia’s most ruthless and uncompromising city, than anywhere else in the country.

Luckily, Webb was friends with Kaldas, who not only had the ear of the city’s top shock jock but was one of the few people who could sway what many had long viewed as an immovable object: Hadley’s opinion.

‘DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS’

“It’s being portrayed that she’s not a very good operational police officer, but she’s been at the forefront of a lot of good investigations, she’s a really good copper,” Kaldas told Hadley, the radio legend revealed in an interview for this piece.

“I said: ‘But mate, she’s a terrible media performer, she gets up there and she’s like a deer in the headlights!’

“I’d been giving her a fair going over … he (Kaldas) basically said: ‘Can you give her another chance, don’t bury her over her media performances, because operationally she’s much better than others’.”

Kaldas’ comment about Webb’s media abilities was pertinent, because at the time the storm she was engulfed in centred around her performance after the alleged double murder by serving police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon.

Webb had initially delayed fronting the media, only to then clumsily say police were “grateful” to the alleged double murderer cop for his assistance in leading them to the bodies of the two victims, Luke Davies and Jesse Baird.

PORT IN A STORM

As the storm swirled Webb’s instincts were to hide from the media, and to tell Fordham and also The Daily Telegraph’s editor Ben English that she would break her silence in an interview with them.

But, after giving those assurances to others, she suddenly popped up on-air with Hadley.

The call from Kaldas resulted in Hadley giving Webb potentially one of the easiest interviews of his career.

During that chat, Webb said she believed she could improve her media performances, but admitted to Hadley: “Most cops join the police to be in the police, not the media”.

There is genuine merit to that comment from Webb.

But similarly, most cops who join the police do not rise to the rank of Commissioner and get to enjoy the associated perk of a $679,050 annual salary.

It is for this reason her detractors say they have every right to be harsh on her.

Not everyone sees the abundance of criticism that Webb has faced over the past three years as fair, however.

In an interview in the lead-up to the recent launch of his book, Nick Kaldas did not hold back when asked about the constant attacks on Webb, saying he believed “misogyny” was rife.

“Some of what is happening to her would not be happening if she was a male, and if she was blokey,” Kaldas said.

“Some of those who are criticising her now have not done half as much as she has, and they never will.

“I have to say some of it is misogynistic, and I don’t say that easily.”

MISOGYNY, AND MEDIA TRAINING

Misogyny has been a label slapped on criticism of Webb by her supporters since early on.

A major reason for that may be that some have suggested being a woman was a factor in Webb becoming Commissioner.

Whether or not that is true, had Gladys Berejiklian’s relationship with Darryl Maguire never been uncovered by ICAC, it is more than likely Webb would never have become top cop.

When Mick Fuller told then-Premier Berejiklian and Police Minister David Elliott in mid-2021 he was going to depart when his contract ended that year, they begged him to stay around.

But having guided the police through the Covid-19 pandemic, Fuller was ready to go.

With six months to find a replacement, the Liberal government created a shortlist of candidates.

“There were a couple of options from the AFP, no one from interstate (police forces) jumped out and then from within NSW Police there was Mick Willing, Mal Lanyon, Peter Cotter and Karen Webb … and Nick Kaldas still had his eye on it,” one government source recalled.

Soon, the three NSW Police Deputy Commissioners – Willing, Lanyon and Webb – distanced themselves from the pack.

Willing had worked closely with Premier Berejiklian during daily Covid-19 press conferences and most believe would have been her pick.

But her sudden departure turned the situation on its head.

PRESS PACK VERSUS POLICING

For newly-minted Premier Dominic Perrottet, choosing a police commissioner was set to be the first big choice of his leadership, and with little knowledge of the three candidates, he insisted on meeting all three.

Ironically, during her interviews Webb was upfront about her weaknesses, with media performance high on the list.

Perrottet probably assumed that issue was fixable, fronting the cameras is, after all, something you only get better at with practice.

But even if she did not improve quickly, he was confident the issue could be overcome.

“He told her (Webb): ‘Don’t worry, you’ve got the biggest media tart (David Elliott) as your Minister’,” one source said.

In any case, Perrottet surely figured that whatever Webb lacked in media skills, she made up for with an impeccable policing record that included years as a criminal investigator.

But there was also an undeniable added bonus she brought to the table.

PERROTTET’S ‘WOMAN PROBLEM’

“Dom (Perrottet) perceived himself to have a woman problem,” a government source said.

What impact being a woman really had on the process is up for debate, but sources say at the end of Perrottet’s interviews he ranked his candidates: 1 Webb, 2 Lanyon, 3 Willing.

Then-Police Minister David Elliott said he stood by the appointment of Webb, when quizzed on it for this story.

“I think that it was a considered opinion and that she was the right person, in the right place, at the right time, and she had incredible credentials,” the now retired politician said.

On the record Perrottet has long defended the decision to appoint Webb.

But privately, there has been increasing talk that he has begun to tell people it is one of his few regrets from a career in public office.

MICK’S PRIVATE PICK

It has been suggested by some that Mick Fuller had a hand in helping Perrottet pick a successor.

But when asked about his involvement, he denied playing any role in the process – and revealed he even kept the fact he had a preferred candidate out of the three to himself.

“Picking a police commissioner is very much a personal decision and it has been historically, because if they perform poorly it can reflect on the government,” Fuller said.

“I got a phone call (from Perrottet) that there was sort of a secondary process and I pushed all of them forward.

“I picked Karen to be a deputy (commissioner) and I’d supported her long before then.

“But to be honest, I thought probably on paper Mal pipped the others slightly, not that I told Perrottet that.

“Then later I received a phone call saying it was Karen and I said: ‘No worries, I’m happy to help her in any way I can’.”

One of the first negative stories Webb faced was a front page in The Daily Telegraph about a visit to a Maserati dealership her husband managed for an International Women’s Day event, on a day when her officers were bravely rescuing Sydneysiders from raging floods.

WEBB OF CONTROVERSIES

Since then there has been no shortage of media reporting dedicated to Webb’s controversies, which include:

– The Cooma Taser scandal, in which details of a great-grandmother being fatally tasered by police was left off a media release

– The Beau Lamarre-Condon alleged double murder and her poor media performance

– The revolving door of media advisers, whose sackings have cost taxpayers $700,000

– A gin gifting saga in which Webb used taxpayer funds to buy 100 alcoholic gifts

It would be unrealistic to think the waves of attacks on Webb have had no impact on her.

Some of those closest to Webb say in the early days she was shocked by the pile-on, before gritting her teeth amid the Cooma Taser scandal, and realising the better option was to try and build relationships with the media and those in wider circles.

Harvey Norman chief executive Katie Page spent two days with Webb on a course at the Goulburn Police Academy in 2024, aimed at showing media and business types what being in the cops is really like.

As she was put through her paces, Page says her eyes were opened to the challenges the Commissioner faces.

Asked what impressed her about Webb, the businesswoman pointed to one of the biggest wins of the Commissioner’s tenure – getting the state government to cover the $30,000 cost for police recruits to attend Goulburn Police Academy, something Webb and the government hope will turn the force’s dire recruitment situation around.

“I had no idea that those student police officers were not paid and expected to do the whole course unpaid for 16 weeks,” Page said.

“It was the Commissioner and the Minister (Yasmin Catley) who said this was wrong and changed it.”

But despite a widening circle of powerful relationships, the attacks have continued to come.

‘EXTRAORDINARY’ SCRUTINY

Page doesn’t believe the attacks on the Commissioner since “day one” were as a result of her being a woman, but did admit she thinks the scrutiny has been “extraordinary”.

“There is rough and tumble, you cannot expect it to be any other way. You cannot please everyone and that is not misogyny,” Page said.

She said the best way to explain what was happening to Webb was to quote Britain’s wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill: “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

So if not misogynistic, what has led to Webb being so controversial?

Webb grew up in Boorowa, a few hours south of Sydney, and was inspired to join the police by an officer who took her for a drive around her small hometown to get her driver’s licence.

She joined the NSW Police in May 1987 and was first stationed at Castle Hill.

There, she met Wayne “Wally” Walpole, who at that point had already been in the cops for a few years and would go on to become one of the state’s most experienced Homicide investigators.

Walpole retired two months ago after four decades as a cop, which means he can now talk freely to the media about the woman he has known for roughly 40 years.

He said in recent years as Webb has come under attack he has text her several times to check in, and believes she is paying the price for focusing on her policing during her career, instead of making friends in the media.

‘BULLYING WON’T STOP ME’

“Let’s face it, a lot of people got their nose out of joint when Karen got the job. This started from pretty much day one,” Walpole said.

“A lot of the media think she’s come from nowhere, she hasn’t, she’s just done her job.

“Most of the experienced CI (criminal investigator) cops, we just see it as the media’s got an agenda against her.

“She was never one to say ‘pick me, pick me! I want to see myself in the media’. Whereas a lot of other cops are all about media exposure, she just wants to do a job.

“I spoke to her in the early stages when she was copping some and she said: ‘I’ve had a few bloody noses in the past as you know Wally, the bullying’s not going to stop me’.

“Any opportunity they get, whether it’s valid or not, they will have a crack at her. I don’t know what she can do to wind that back at this point, probably nothing, this has been an onslaught since day one almost.

“It’s been a difficult time, I reckon she’s earned every dollar that she has earned.”

Having known Webb for decades, Walpole said a moment that stuck with him since her ascent to Commissioner was how she dealt with the family of police officer Adam Child after his suicide in 2022.

Walpole was at the late detective’s parents home when Webb arrived and said she was the same genuine person he met in the 1980s.

“Something that she’s had right through her career, and I witnessed it when Adam Child committed suicide and she was at his parents house, the empathy, the understanding she’s got,” Mr Walpole said.

“She is quite genuine where she does share the pain and understand the grief.

“She’s not perfect, but I’m yet to meet anyone who is.”

Webb did not have much of a public profile as a police officer rising through the ranks.

But once she was announced as the state’s top cop controversy seemed to not only find her, but almost refuse to leave her alone since.

Webb’s enemies in the force say she has brought some of this on herself.

‘BRUTAL’ SACKING

They point to decisions early on they say were deliberately aimed at ensuring she, as the first woman to lead the force, put her stamp on the job.

It began with the sacking of Mick Willing, who she called on January 20, 2022 – almost two weeks before she was officially sworn in – and informed him his services were no longer needed.

That phone call lasted less than a minute.

Even some of Willing’s colleagues shook their heads at how brutal it was.

“I thought it was unnecessary,” one source said.

“I think she could have said to Mick: ‘You’ve got two years to go on this contract, start looking at what you’re going to move onto next and if any jobs pop up, take them’.”

Whether or not she intended to ‘send a message’, or simply believed she could not trust Willing – as some of her supporters have suggested – her actions reverberated throughout the force.

Undeterred, she continued on her push for change.

In her first year in charge, she gathered the state’s senior officers in a conference room at the Australian National Maritime Museum, overlooking the glistening Darling Harbour.

First they were spoken to by former Australian soccer captain turned commentator Craig Foster.

Then, Webb took the stage, where she put gender on the agenda.

Webb made it known she wanted women to be given greater opportunities in the force.

Multiple sources who were present at the meeting have confirmed she instructed them that if a male and female officer going for the same promotion simply could not be split, then they were to promote the woman.

Again, like many things the Commissioner says and does, it divided opinion.

One source said: “There was some uncomfortable shifting in chairs at that comment”.

Another, male officer, disagreed: “There are still way too few women in leadership positions, something has to change”.

THE GENDER POLICE

Others, however, viewed her comment as dealing a blow to both sexes.

Webb’s focus on women in the force has long been a talking point among cops.

There is little doubt she believes the NSW Police ‘boys club’ has seen smart female officers held back for too long.

Karen Webb was approached for an interview as part of this piece but declined.

If she had accepted, one of the first questions would have been whether she regretted her decision to sack Mick Willing.

Another would have been why she believed it was important to make promotion a gender issue.

Webb has regularly focused on gender throughout her tenure, including when she invited Tom Malone, the boss of Nine radio – which owns 2GB – to her office at the Police Executive Office on Elizabeth Street back in late-2023.

On the agenda was the nature of attacks from 2GB radio host Ben Fordham.

Fordham had been taking the state’s first female top cop to task for some time over her leadership.

A fed up Webb called Malone in to give him a dressing down.

“She accused him (Fordham) of being misogynistic and sexist,” a police source said.

“I think there is a view that she is meek and mild, but trust me, she can be fierce when she needs to be.”

‘OWN GOALS AND ‘AIRBRUSHING’

Fordham says he was “shocked” when he heard about the discussion and makes no apologies for holding Webb to account, who he says has broken “the world record for own goals and self-inflicted injuries”.

“I’ve got to say — I was genuinely shocked when Karen played the gender card,” Fordham said in an interview for this piece.

At the time his boss was called in for a face-to-face with Webb, Fordham had been outraged at the attempted cover-up by police over Clare Nowland’s death in a Cooma nursing home, in which the initial police press release made no mention of the use of a Taser.

It was a decision Webb defended – much to Fordham’s anger.

“My main criticism is around transparency. The Police Commissioner has to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” Fordham said.

“At times Karen Webb has engaged in some airbrushing of crucial information and at other times she’s strayed onto dangerous territory by deleting details that paint police in a bad light.

“You can’t bulls**t Sydney. They’ll find out.”

You similarly can’t bulls**t the police force.

In recent years, the departures of a number of senior officers from the force have rubbed people up the wrong way, in a similar vein to the ruthless decision to suddenly sack Willing.

Tony Crandell went off on leave to have knee surgery last year, but had always planned to return to the cops and then on his own terms call time on a career that had seen him rise to Assistant Commissioner.

But instead while on leave, he got a call to say his exit date was being moved forward.

Taking away the chance for someone who had given decades to the force to go out on their own terms was not looked upon favourably by many of his colleagues.

That followed the shock exit of another Assistant Commissioner, Stuart Smith, who departed the force earlier this year after, those close to him say, he read the writing on the wall that he had fallen out of favour with Webb.

That is despite him leading the State Crime Command throughout much of the recent gang war, being credited for making the missing persons database world leading, and working heavily on combating domestic violence.

“It will take years to mend what she’s done, the culture is a trainwreck,” an unimpressed police source said.

‘THE FREEZER’ AND THE HATERS

One former police insider believes Webb had a philosophy of sidelining those she perceives as enemies to “the freezer”.

Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon is seemingly one of those to be frozen out.

Lanyon was last year exiled from the cops to the role as CEO of disaster recovery agency Reconstruction NSW, for a further two years just as his six-month secondment was due to end and he was preparing to return to the cops.

That extension came after Webb reportedly complained to Premier Minns about him.

In comparison to the exits of her media advisers over the years, the departures of frontline crime fighters have garnered minimal headlines.

So why have so many officers been moved on, or left, under Webb?

“She is such a hater and quick to put people in the freezer, she will professionally sideline anyone that disagrees with her or who she has a hint of them being against her,” a former colleague said.

The reference to being a “hater” is filled with irony, considering one of Webb’s biggest media gaffe’s came in response to a question from Sunrise host Matt Shirvington about criticism of her around the Beau Lamarre-Condon saga.

“There will always be haters, haters like to hate, isn’t that what Taylor [Swift] says?” Webb said, referencing a song by the popster, who was touring Australia at the time.

One of those Webb is often suggested to “hate” is Fuller.

When the front page of The Daily Telegraph featured the story about her Maserati dealership visit, there was a suggestion that someone aligned to the former Fuller regime had leaked it.

The truth is, Tele entertainment editor Jonathon “JMo” Moran had simply noticed an Instagram post by TV personality Kate Peck with Webb at the event, and realised it was newsworthy.

What the Maserati saga highlighted was the new Commissioner’s inexperience in the harsh Sydney spotlight.

When she first got the top job, she planned to steer clear of the media, believing those who had gone before her – in particular Fuller – were too close to some in the game.

Three years on, her relationship with the media may be worse than ever.

In her early years, after catching on to the fact Webb was an uneasy media performer, critics readied their pens whenever she fronted the TV cameras.

Now it has seemingly reached a point where on occasions, no matter what her decision or response to an issue, Webb simply cannot win.

Take, for example, her decision to join Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson at the Beau Lamarre-Condon press conference, but defer to him over the majority of the questions.

The next day she woke to a cartoon in The Daily Telegraph depicting Hudson as a towering Robin and her as a meek and mild Batman.

Earlier this year she did the opposite, and decided not to join Hudson and Premier Minns at an evening press conference to announce the discovery of a caravan filled with explosives out at Dural.

Within hours of that press conference ending, The Sydney Morning Herald had penned an editorial which in part asked: “Where the hell was Karen Webb?”

At several points, her tenure as Police Commissioner has seemed precariously placed, but never more so than during the gin saga last year.

Sources say at that point, she was told by Premier Chris Minns she could not afford any more controversies of a similar magnitude.

Despite that, many believe Minns would never sack the state’s first female top cop.

Similarly, he is assisted by the fact the current coalition opposition can hardly criticise any of her performances publicly, because after all they were the government that selected her.

Webb’s controversies have largely had the common theme of poor media performances.

Some of her supporters suggest it is unfair to continually criticise a Commissioner who was more than upfront about their media failings.

But her detractors say she is lucky that is what the focus has been on.

In recent years, NSW’s road toll has been at record highs, yet she has faced little criticism.

The youth crime problem last year claimed the job of Queensland’s first female top cop, and has been a similarly big issue in NSW.

Yet again, Webb has mostly escaped scrutiny, with Minns in fact saying last year that in terms of the KPIs (key performance indicators) of a Commissioner, “she does an excellent job”.

On top of her own cops and the government, another relationship Webb has to manage is the Police Association of NSW.

In recent times there have seemingly been rising tensions between the two.

That may be surprising, considering in the past 18 months they have worked together to get the state government to pay recruits to train at the Goulburn Police Academy, and on a new pay rise for the force.

But in late 2024 several PANSW branches issued protests against Webb over the charging of two officers for their allegedly over zealous arrest of an elderly man in Camden.

When sent questions asking if they supported the Commissioner, PANSW tellingly declined to comment.

GIN, AND A THORN NAMED ROB ROBERTS

Another thorn in Webb’s side over the past few years has been former cop turned politician, Rod Roberts.

The upper house MP has appeared to many to have had an agenda to bring down the state’s top cop.

He has probed her during budget estimates about missing ballistic vests, the dire situation of the force’s recruitment issues, and the almost $700,000 paid to her former media advisers.

But of the several pieces of controversy-sparking evidence against Webb that Roberts has uncovered, none has been bigger than revelations of using taxpayers money to purchase bottles of gin to issue as gifts.

Sick of the constant attacks, Webb approached Roberts about a meeting in an effort to try and broker peace.

At a coffee shop in the historic Queen Victoria Building in the heart of Sydney’s CBD, the police commissioner sat in plain clothes across from the politician.

Webb and Roberts’ meeting has become widely known throughout policing and political circles in the months since, and several sources told of their knowledge of it for this story – including one apparent topic of discussion, her potential retirement.

RETIREMENT RUMOURS

Rumours of Webb’s potential retirement have been swirling ever since late in 2024.

One of the major reasons is because Webb is part of a rapidly-diminishing crew in the police force who are “pre-88”.

The benefit of joining the NSW Police before April 1, 1988, was access to a defined benefit superannuation scheme, which entitled cops to be paid a pension equivalent to the highest rank they held for at least two years.

For Webb, that will be an enormous annual payout, which sources estimated would be in the rough range of $380,000-a-year pension or a $4.75 million lump sum, regardless of whether she quits now or sees out her full term.

“Over the past 12 months in particular I think the job has taken a real toll on her … it has not been easy by any stretch,” a source said.

An article in The Daily Telegraph earlier this year revealed the rumours of her impending departure, but Webb insisted she was not going anywhere and is keen to see out the final two years of her five-year contract.

Those who are closest to her are adamant she will do just that.

They say that no matter how many more scandals land between now and then, she is too determined to quit.

They also say she has unfinished business in some key areas, including domestic violence.

In one of her first interviews Webb made it clear that domestic violence was a major priority for her and one she has invested enormous police resources into and been at the forefront of making it a major issue.

“Karen Webb has been a major reason that domestic violence is now on the national stage,” a former officer said.

“She has played a major part in putting it in the forefront of people’s consciousness.

“You cannot underestimate the work she has done to address it at a local level as well. It is a legacy she should be proud of.’’

In the meantime, the word is that those who see themselves as possibly being in with a shot at taking over as Commissioner, whenever it is she departs, are readying themselves for the political battle that is to come.

“The Hunger Games are starting already,” one source said.