By Jordan Baker
For most of her 3½ years as NSW Police Commissioner, Karen Webb hasn’t felt safe in the job. There was always a fear that haters, as she once put it in an ill-judged reference to Taylor Swift, were leaking against her, that powerful sections of the media wanted her gone, and that the criticism of her weak public performances dented her support among the troops.
Recently, that feeling must have ramped up. There has been speculation swirling for months that the premier’s office has been distancing itself from her, and that Webb had lost the support of the powerful, Labor-aligned NSW Police Association (the association did not comment). A story that appeared in The Daily Telegraph in January, saying she was considering early retirement, is said to have taken Webb by surprise.
Police Commissioner Karen Webb has suffered leaks and negative media attention in her three years in the top job.Credit: Rhett Wyman
At least she now has some certainty. On Wednesday, Webb announced her resignation.
The government insists the decision was Webb’s. The premature sacking of the first female police commissioner would be, as its media advisers would say, bad optics. And there was a time when senior people in the government quietly described the attacks on Webb as sexist. But several police sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity so they could talk freely, say that in the end, she was explicitly encouraged to go.
The timing was highly unusual; commissioners, even unpopular or unhappy ones, usually see out their tenure. When asked by this masthead in March if she planned to leave early, Webb said she had more work to do. No police boss has left so prematurely since the passing of the Police Act of 1990, which set their incumbency at five years. Before Webb, the shortest-serving commissioner in the past 40 years was Mick Fuller, who was only two months shy of a full term.
The strongest contender for the job is Mal Lanyon, a deputy commissioner who has been on secondment to the NSW Reconstruction Authority since April last year.
There has been speculation swirling for months that Premier Chris Minns’ office has been distancing itself from Webb.Credit: Rhett Wyman
Lanyon has long been touted as a rival for the commissioner’s job. He was in the final three candidates when Webb was selected in late 2021 but was ruled out, sources close to the process say, amid concerns about the optics, again, of an incident in which he was found drunk in Goulburn earlier that year while visiting the academy for an attestation, and allegedly swore at paramedics.
Lanyon still has strong support from some parts of the NSW Police Force and sections of the media. Webb’s backers have been worried about his influence. His move to the authority was interpreted as an attempt to give her clear air, amid persistent criticism about her performance – particularly in relation to her timidity in front of cameras – and constant scuttlebutt about whether Lanyon should replace her.
During his period at the NSW Reconstruction Authority, Lanyon has worked closely with the former chief executive of the authority, Simon Draper, who is now secretary of the Premier’s Department.
Appointing Webb was one of Dominic Perrottet’s first acts when he became premier after Gladys Berejiklian’s abrupt exit. She was sworn in on February 1, 2022. The selection panel knew that her media performance was a key weakness but believed that would be offset by a confident police minister in the Nationals’ Paul Toole.
Webb at the attestation ceremony in Goulburn last week.Credit: NSW Police.
They also knew that Webb had a stellar policing career behind her, and that a key qualification for a police commissioner – particularly one running a force that had known such depths of corruption as NSW – was integrity. But throughout Webb’s tenure there has been hot debate over whether police credentials and probity were enough for a commissioner, or whether strong communication skills were also essential to the job.
As one former politician with ties to the police force put it: “There’s a lot of people scratching their head, asking, ‘Is this the sort of woman who’d bash up crooks and throw them in the back of the paddy wagon?’”
Last Friday, Webb, Premier Chris Minns and Police Minister Yasmin Catley braved the Goulburn chill to preside over the biggest attestation of recruits in more than a decade. The big numbers were due to reforms Webb helped introduce; a massive pay rise, flexible work, and payment to study at the academy, as well as a review of the notoriously blokey culture.
The police force is performing well on other indicators too. Its focus on so-called silent crimes affecting women, such as domestic violence and sexual assault, has increased – both were priorities of Webb’s – and recent research has found the proportion of major crimes that resulted in an offender being charged had grown significantly in NSW between 2009 and 2023.
Last October, she began a review of the force’s notoriously blokey culture. She has also been a strong advocate of the need for more mental health services to reduce the pressure on police to respond to emergency health crises.
But Webb’s professional achievements were always overshadowed by her public performance. Her timid approach to the cameras was inflamed by criticism of her judgment during two deep crises that shattered public confidence in NSW Police. Both involved the deaths of civilians, allegedly at the hands of serving police officers.
The first was the death of Clare Nowland, who died of injuries from a fall caused when now-former officer Kristian White Tasered her in her nursing home. He was convicted of manslaughter. The police media office edited mention of the Taser out of its initial press release, and Webb was criticised for not addressing the media for three days after the incident.
Webb was criticised for her handling of the death of Clare Nowland, who was Tasered by serving officer Kristian White. Credit: Sam Mooy
The other was the alleged double murder of two young men, allegedly by a police officer, Beau Lamarre-Condon, with his service weapon. The case is before the courts. Again she was criticised for failing to front the media after the arrest, and then flippancy when she quoted Taylor Swift in her defence. “Haters like to hate,” she said.
Whatever the reason, the tenure of the NSW Police Force’s first female commissioner has come to an abrupt and unexpected end. Some will say it’s a blow for women in the force, some will say retirement will be a relief for Webb after a difficult few years, and some will argue that the decision corrects a poor choice by Perrottet (Catley on Wednesday emphasised Perrottet’s role in Webb’s selection, as she was discussing her departure).
But if Lanyon replaces Webb, the people of NSW can know one thing for sure; the intense rivalries at the top of the NSW Police Force, which have swirled around the executive offices for decades, show no sign of abating.
As one senior officer said after Webb’s departure was announced on Wednesday: “We eat our own, that’s for sure.”
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