Heather du Plessis Allan writes about the demise of the Police career of Commissioner Coster aka “The Lantern”. She is as brutal as she is honest in her assessment.
When he announced he would be leaving the post early, the celebratory texts and emails started arriving. They were from serving and former police officers, happy to see the back of the man they call “The Lantern”: bright, but must be carried.
They’re happy to be rid of a leader who didn’t crack down on large gang convoys when they took over New Zealand roads. Whose response to random iwi checkpoints unlawfully stopping cars during Covid was to send officers to babysit and legitimise them. Who embarrassed himself by threatening to tow parliamentary protesters’ cars unless they moved then, when they ignored him, did nothing.
The hope is that police can now get on with cracking down on crime without being so politicised by their boss.
It was ironic that Coster complained this week about being dragged into the political debate, given he was the one so often doing it himself.
NZ Herald
One of the worst things I ever saw from Coster was his praise of the police thugs who brought violence to the Wellington Protest. That protest was ultimately the end for his paymaster, the brutal tyrant, Jacinda Ardern.
