Nick Kaldas defends friend Karen Webb, saying attacks on the Police Commissioner are misogynistic

One of NSW’s most respected former police officers has revealed his secret friendship with Commissioner Karen Webb – and hit out at the ‘misogynistic’ attacks she has been subjected to.

One of the state’s most revered former police officers has revealed his secret friendship with Commissioner Karen Webb – declaring she has been the target of “misogynistic” attacks inside her own ranks.

Former NSW Police deputy commissioner Nick Kaldas was born in the shadows of the pyramids in Egypt, before migrating to Australia and becoming a “wog from Marrickville” who would later work his way up to the rank of NSW Police Deputy Commissioner.

But although successful, his more than three decades in the force were not always easy as he faced “racism”, “bullying” and a variety of personal attacks, while “breaking through the glass ceiling”.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Saturday Telegraph ahead of the launch of his book Behind the Badge, Mr Kaldas revealed he at one stage suffered such bad post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) he had a breakdown in a supermarket –— but hid it from his colleagues and superiors.

Mr Kaldas says such “tough man” attitudes need to be a thing of the past in the cops, and says he believes Commissioner Webb’s refusal to be “blokey” is likely one of the reasons the first female top cop has often faced such intense scrutiny.

Nick Kaldas has a new book about his impressive career: Behind the Badge. Picture: Richard Dobson

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

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

“The tragedy of this, and it’s been lost in the hurly burly, is that she has been an operational police officer all her life. I remember her locking up pedophiles in the ’80s when I saw her at North West Crime Squad.

“She’s been there and done it all, and she’s been doing it ever since.

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

Having known Commissioner Webb for “decades”, Mr Kaldas says he has had discussions with her in recent years over dinner with her and her husband, in which she has opened up on being “frustrated” by the constant attacks over things such as her media presence, lack of visibility and an alcohol gifting scandal.

Police Commissioner Karen Webb. Picture: Thomas Lisson

Mr Kaldas when he was Deputy Commissioner. Picture: Jeremy Piper

He said he believes there has been a double standard since she took over, that has now reached the point where she is criticised no matter what she does.

“I think she’s frustrated more than anything and it seems, and I can’t speak for her obviously, that no matter what she’s done someone will find something wrong and they will attack her,” Mr Kaldas said.

“And they will attack her on things her predecessors would have done without any questions being asked.

“Some of the things she’s been criticised for happened in the past with others, and that was OK (for them), but if she does them that’s the subject of criticism.”

Mr Kaldas says he was reluctant to write a book on his career for many years, but now that he has, he hopes it may help explain to his kids where he was for large parts of their lives.

On his first day at the NSW Police Academy in Redfern in 1981, he was told to go and get a haircut by crown sergeant Bruce Gould, father of rugby league legend Phil “Gus” Gould, during his lunchbreak.

Behind the Badge is out on March 5.

In the decades that followed he would solve murders and even pretend to be willing to carry them out while working undercover.

There were study trips abroad with leading forces, like the London Metropolitan Police and the FBI.

His reputation saw him at one point excused from the NSW Police for a year so he could lead the UN investigation into the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

Later, after leaving the cops, he returned to work for the UN investigating the use of chemical weapons in Syria and more recently chaired the Royal Commission Into Veteran Suicide back home.

But one secondment while he was still in the NSW Police took a toll on him that he did not want to admit at the time.

Having studied PTSD closely while working on the veteran suicide royal commission, in hindsight he realises a trip to Iraq during the war on terror left him with mental health issues.

When he returned home, a trip to a local supermarket saw him have a “meltdown” when he could not remember his PIN at the checkout.

“I am certain I had very bad PTSD when I got back from Iraq,” Mr Kaldas said.

“How I now know I had it, is that I had all the symptoms … if someone slammed the fridge door or something, I used to jump through my skin.

“One of the lessons I’ve learned, and I hope I’ll be contributing to that discussion now, is that in policing we need to take away the stigma, to make it more acceptable for men and women to put ­their hand up and say: ‘Look, I’ve been through a lot, I’m not well, and I need you to ­s­upport me’.”

Behind the Badge by Nick Kaldas will be published by HarperCollins on March 5. Read exclusive extracts at dailytelegraph.com.au on Sunday