NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione and Police Minister Troy Grant have announced a new NSW police executive structure.  Photo: Nick Moir

The appropriate person must be in the right place

We need fresh faces, not a white knight, to save the NSW police

ANALYSIS - Nick Ralston

AUGUST 25 2016

(Translation of this article appears in Arabic section)

Nick Kaldas might be one of the most decorated and well-credentialled officers in recent NSW history, but he is not going to be the answer to the leadership crisis in the NSW police. Nor does he need to be.

An unlikely alliance of Labor, The Greens, Fred Nile and The Shooters and Fishers Party banded together on Thursday to demand Premier Mike Baird reach out to Kaldas, bring him home and make him the next police commissioner.

"There's a crisis and there's a lack of succession plan," Opposition Leader Luke Foley said.

Kaldas is now working with the UN, having departed the force in March when it became clear Baird did not see him as Andrew Scipione's successor when the commissioner retires next July.

It never made much sense that Kaldas – who had forged strong relationships between police and multicultural communities, led major crime squads and built expertise in counter-terrorism – was no longer a candidate.

There has been calls for former deputy police commissioner Nick Kaldas to become the next commissioner. Photo: Cole Bennetts

The government has not changed its view in the five months since Kaldas left. Asked if he would consider an SOS call-out to the former deputy commissioner, Police Minister Troy Grant would only say: "Those who want to apply, apply."

As highly respected as Kaldas might be, he does not need to be the white knight to save the NSW police. What is needed now are some fresh faces at the top.

There has been growing discontent among the future leaders of the force at the lack of promotion and opportunity – there has been very little change in the top ranks in the past five years.

The leadership vacuum is as much about the failure to promote and refresh the top ranks as it is about any one officer's departure.

Scipione signed on for two more years in April 2015 when the state government did not believe it had a suitable replacement for him, yet in the next 16 months did little to fix this.

The announcement on Thursday that the number of deputy commissioners would be expanded from three to five will increase the number of candidates who could be the next commissioner.

It will also hopefully keep some of the best and brightest in NSW police as promotions trickle down into the ranks below.

If this is enough time for NSW to find its next top cop from within its own force, we will know by next July.