NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb must address this mess or risk morale sliding

Police Commissioner Karen Webb must confront accusations about expenses and promoting friends to senior positions or risk morale in the force sliding to a new low.

There is no doubt that Police Commissioner Karen Webb is under attack from within her own organisation and much of it is of her own doing.

There are serious questions about her and deputy Paul ­Pisanos’s entertainment expenses, but more important are the claims of promoting friends to senior positions, which have been raised in parliament by former cop Rod Roberts.

Accusations about police commissioners are nothing new, especially when it comes to promotions, and they often turn out to be nothing more than disaffected cops making complaints out of spite.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has faced questions in parliament over the purchase of alcohol. Picture: NSW Police

But Roberts has gone out on a limb to air these questions publicly which some claim is a fishing expedition with no foundation but he believes have some credibility and feels duty bound to have them examined by the parliament.

It came as no shock to many in the media and the force itself that Webb’s enemies were trying to destabilise her and in fact thought it would have come much earlier after she made a mess of her press conference when one of her officers, Beau Lamarre-Condon was accused of killing two people.

That started the rot and Webb is facing growing disquiet across the force with her public performances and perceived lack of leadership breeding a massive amount of disloyalty in ranks from constable to those higher up.

The information fuelling Roberts’ questions have no doubt come from an insider and now one has leaked and found a voice, the floodgates are likely to open up.

Commissioner Webbs is facing growing disquiet across the force. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

All commissioners make enemies, but Karen Webb seems to have made more than her predecessors by sacking 14 senior staff and moving many others sideways. Her detractors say this has created an atmosphere of fear stifling good policing. Her supporters say it shows she is not afraid to make tough decisions.

What is clear is Webb has enemies within who are campaigning behind the scenes to try to get rid of her and have fired the first shot.

Webb needs to kill this in its tracks now by standing up and publicly addressing the questions raised by Roberts to assure her troops and the community she has nothing to hide. Letting it fester will see morale in the force continue to slide and public confidence evaporate.