NSW’s top cop is set to resign within months

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has been in the job for three years, culminating 38 years of service in the state’s force.

Police Minister Yasmin Catley confirmed the resignation in state parliament on Wednesday, saying Webb had recently written to her and expressed “her intention to retire by the end of the year”.

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She will resign as Commissioner on September 30, Catley said.

It comes only months after Webb dismissed claims she was gunning to retire early, and cuts short her five-year term.

She had planned to make the announcement on May 18, commemorating the date she walked into the Goulburn Police Academy 38 years ago.

But continuing the trend of a turbulent tenure, the news was leaked on Wednesday, forcing her and the government to respond.

She is the state’s first female police chief, and said she hopes more women will fill the role in the future.

“I have recommended to the government that Deputy Commissioner Peter Thurtell act in my role,” Webb said.

“I knew when the time was right I would know, and I wanted to give the State Government time to recruit and appoint a new Commissioner going into an election period in less than two years.”

Webb has had an “extremely distinguished career, marked by exemplary service,” Catley said.

She established the Domestic and Family Violence Registry, and has driven the expansion of the family liaison officer (FLO) program to better support victims and families of victims of crime including at events such as the Bondi Junction incident.

She apologised for the force’s handling of gay hate crimes over a period of 40 years, and organised paid study for student police officers, on top of many more achievements.

But Webb’s time as Commissioner has not been free from controversy.

She has been criticised over a number of statements, including her refusal to watch bodycam footage of a police officer tasering 95-year-old aged care home resident Clare Nowland, who died after the incident.

Webb was also accused of taking too long to front the public after former senior constable Beau Lamarre-Condon was charged with murdering Luke Davies and his boyfriend Jesse Baird.

She was also accused of using flippant language when she said the alleged murders were a “crime of passion”.

The Commissioner even battled backlash over a Taylor Swift reference while fending off critics during an appearance on Sunrise.

“There will always be haters. Haters like to hate. Isn’t that what Taylor says?” she said at the time.

Swift memes were circulating among police officers soon after, and Upper House MP Rod Roberts argued the pop star’s lyrics should not have been used during such a serious investigation.

“I invite public scrutiny as it is an important part of being NSW Police Commissioner,” Webb said in August last year.

But she said some of the comments against her have gone too far, including claims made during an investigation into the purchase of bottles of gin.

Roberts alleged Webb used parliamentary privilege to gain free gin for herself and her staff to consume themselves.

The gin purchase, which Webb said was to be distributed as gifts or donated for charity purposes, was later found by the watchdog to have been in accordance with policies and procedures.

Webb said she had never tasted the Commissioner’s Gin and said Roberts’ comments were “intended to damage my personal reputation”.