The Commissioner of Police is the head of the New Zealand Police and is currently held by Andrew Coster. The Commissioner is appointed for a term not exceeding five years by the Governor-General, and reports to the Minister of Police. [1] The position combines two functions, that of chief constable in charge of policing and cases, and chief executive responsible for assets and budgeting. [2] In military terms, the rank is equivalent to Lieutenant General. [3]
The Police Force Act 1886 split the police from the earlier body known as the New Zealand Armed Constabulary, which had performed both civil policing functions as well as being the standing army and militia, on 1 September 1886. Sir George Whitmore was appointed as the first commissioner, reporting to the Minister of Defence. [4] Early commissioners came from the United Kingdom with military or law enforcement experience, such as Walter Dinnie, who had served as an Inspector at Scotland Yard.
In 2006, the commissioner was the highest paid person on the public payroll in New Zealand, earning $440,000 [5] In 2020, current commissioner, Andrew Coster was paid a salary of $700,000. [6]
In early March 2020, then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appointed Andrew Coster as the new Commissioner of Police, taking effect in April 2020. [7]
# | Image | Name | Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start | End | ||||
1 | Sir George Stoddart Whitmore | 1 September 1886 | 31 December 1886 | [4] [8] | |
2 | Major Walter E. Gudgeon | 5 January 1887 | June 1890 | [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] | |
3 | Lt. Col. Arthur Hume | 1 July 1890 | 1897 | [11] [12] [13] [14] | |
4 | John Bennett Tunbridge | 21 October 1897 | 1903 | [12] [15] | |
5 | Walter Dinnie | June 1903 | 22 December 1909 | [16] [17] [18] | |
6 | Frank Waldegrave (acting, undersecretary of Justice) | December 1909 | 1912 | [16] | |
7 | John Cullen | 19 April 1912 | 23 November 1916 | [16] [19] | |
8 | John O'Donovan | December 1916 | 1921 | [16] | |
9 | Arthur Wright | 1 January 1922 | 31 January 1926 | [20] | |
10 | William McIlveney (first New Zealand born) | 1 February 1926 | 30 June 1930 | [21] [22] | |
11 | Ward Wohlmann | 1 August 1930 | 30 June 1936 | [22] | |
12 | Denis Joseph Cummings | 1 July 1936 | 31 October 1944 | [23] | |
13 | James Cummings | 1 November 1944 | 15 April 1950 | [23] | |
14 | Bruce Young (died in office) | 4 April 1950 | 28 December 1952 | [24] [25] | |
15 | Eric Compton | 11 March 1953 | 18 April 1955 | [25] | |
16 | Samuel Barnett (Controller General) | 16 May 1955 | 1958 | [26] | |
17 | Willis Spencer Brown | 1 December 1958 | 1961 | [27] | |
18 | Leslie Spencer | 1961 | May 1967 | [28] | |
19 | Colin Urquhart | May 1967 | ≥ 1969 | [28] | |
20 | Sir Angus Sharp | <= 1970 | 1974 | ||
21 | Ken Burnside | October 1974 | mid 1978 | [29] | |
22 | Bob Walton | mid 1978 | 1983 | [30] [31] [32] | |
23 | Ken Thompson | <= 1984 | >= 1986 | ||
24 | Malcolm Churches | 1987 | 1989 | [33] | |
25 | John Jamieson | 1989 | ? 1993 | [34] | |
26 | Richard Macdonald | 1994 | 1996 | ||
27 | Peter Doone | 1 July 1996 | 25 January 2000 | [35] [36] | |
28 | Rob Robinson | 2000 | 18 December 2005 | [37] | |
29 | Steve Long (acting) | December 2005 | 4 April 2006 | [37] | |
30 | Howard Broad | 4 April 2006 | 3 April 2011 | [37] [38] | |
31 | Peter Marshall | 4 April 2011 | 2 April 2014 | [39] | |
32 | Mike Bush | 3 April 2014 | 2 April 2020 | [40] | |
33 | Andrew Coster | 3 April 2020 | incumbent | [41] | |
{{cite web}}
: |last=
has generic name (help)William James Mudie Larnach was a New Zealand businessman and politician. He is known for his extravagant incomplete house near Dunedin called Larnach's castle by his opponents and now known as Larnach Castle. He is also remembered for his suicide within parliament buildings when faced with bankruptcy and consequent loss of his seat in parliament.
Otago Girls' High School (OGHS) is a secondary school in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. It was opened 6 February 1871, after a long campaign by Learmonth Whyte Dalrymple. It is one of the oldest girls state-run secondary school in the Southern Hemisphere and the sixth oldest of its type in the world.
The following lists events that happened during 1905 in New Zealand.
Women's suffrage was an important political issue in the late-nineteenth-century New Zealand. In early colonial New Zealand, as in European societies, women were excluded from any involvement in politics. Public opinion began to change in the latter half of the nineteenth century and after years of effort by women's suffrage campaigners, led by Kate Sheppard, New Zealand became the first nation in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
Selwyn College is a co-educational state secondary school in Kohimarama, Auckland, New Zealand.
Waitaki Boys' High School is a secondary school for boys located in the northern part of the town of Oamaru, Otago, New Zealand, with day and boarding facilities, and was founded in 1883. As of 2020, it has a school roll of approximately 400 students.
The following lists events that happened during 1826 in New Zealand.
Oliver Duff was a New Zealand writer and editor. In 1939 he was founding editor of the New Zealand Listener, a widely read magazine with a national monopoly on publishing radio and television programs.
The 26th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. It was elected at the 1938 general election in October of that year.
John O'Donovan was a New Zealand police commissioner. He was born in Ross Carbery, County Cork, Ireland, in 1858. He came to New Zealand in 1878 to join his brother Richard, who had represented Okarito on the Westland County Council (1872–1873) and on the Westland Provincial Council (1874–1876).
John Bruce Young was a notable New Zealand baker, policeman, unionist and police commissioner. He was born in Kaiapoi, North Canterbury, New Zealand in 1888. He was Commissioner of Police from 4 April 1950. He died in office after a period of sickness.
Ward George Wohlmann (1872–1956) was a notable New Zealand policeman and police commissioner. He was born in Invercargill, New Zealand, in 1872.
William Bernard McIlveney was a New Zealand teacher, telegraphist, local politician, policeman and police commissioner. He was born in Greymouth, New Zealand, on 8 March 1867.
James Cummings was a New Zealand police officer and police commissioner. He was born in Tuapeka Flat, South Otago, New Zealand. He was the brother of Denis Joseph Cummings.
Denis Joseph Cummings was a New Zealand policeman and police commissioner. He was born in Tuapeka Flat, South Otago, New Zealand, on 16 May 1885. He was the brother of James Cummings.
Eric Henry Compton was a New Zealand police officer. He served as Commissioner of Police between 1953 and 1955.
The Bruce by-election 1862 was a by-election held in the multi-member Bruce electorate during the 3rd New Zealand Parliament, on 31 July 1862. The by-election was caused by the death of incumbent MP Charles Kettle on 5 June, and was won by Edward Cargill.
Clara Vera Eichelbaum was a New Zealand painter who exhibited as Vera Chapman and Vera Eichelbaum. Her portrait of her father, Sir Frederick Chapman, is in the Supreme Court of New Zealand in Wellington, and other artworks are in the Hocken Collections in Dunedin. Her papers are held in the permanent collection of the National Library of New Zealand.