In an interview with Jake Tame on Q+A, outgoing Police Commissioner Andrew Coster reflected on the highly charged 2022 anti-mandate protests that shook New Zealand’s parliament, admitting it was one of the few times in his career that kept him awake at night.
The 23-day occupation ended in violence, with clashes between police and protesters amid fires on the parliamentary green.
The toll was not only physical, with officers suffering injuries such as torn tendons and dislocations, but also emotional. More than a third of the police staff involved in the riots were referred to support services to help process the “mental strain” of the experience.
“I would wake up at four am, mind racing,” Coster told Tame. He emphasized the weight of responsibility in his role during such a pressurized situation. “Only police, the commissioner, will carry the responsibility for the way that situation is managed.”
“…when we brought response to resolve it with force, it was the most measured, professional, balanced approach you would see anywhere in the world.”
Coster stood by the approach the police employed. “If we had charged in there at the start, guns blazing, we would still be managing the fallout of that in our communities today,” he explained.
A review by the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) found six instances of excessive force used by police during the protests. While Coster acknowledged these findings, he maintained that the police only escalated their response “when necessary”, adding that their approach brought about “the safest resolution that could have been achieved.”
This article was originally published by the Daily Telegraph New Zealand.
