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Andrew Coster
Andrew Coster
	Coster in 2020
Chief executive of the Social Investment Agency
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 11 November 2024
33rd Commissioner of Police
	In office; 3 April 2020 – 10 November 2024
Preceded by	Mike Bush
Succeeded by	Tania Kura (interim)
Personal details
Born	1975 or 1976 (age 48–49); Dunedin, New Zealand

Andrew David Coster (born 1975 or 1976) is a New Zealand senior public servant and former police officer. Currently the chief executive of the Social Investment Agency, he served as Commissioner of Police from 3 April 2020 to 10 November 2024.

Early life and education

Coster was born in 1975 or 1976 in Dunedin, and grew up in Auckland,^[2] attending King's College.^[3] His father is Professor Gregor Coster, the former Dean of the Wellington Faculty of Health.^[1]^[4]

Coster holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Auckland and a Master of Public Management from Victoria University of Wellington.^[5]

Career

Coster joined the New Zealand Police in 1997. While serving, Coster studied law at the University of Auckland,^[6] and briefly left the Police to work for Meredith Connell as a Crown prosecutor.^[2] He returned to the Police in 2005 in a supervisory position and went on to serve as Auckland City Area Commander, from 2009 to 2013, and Southern District Commander, from 2013 to 2015. At the time, he was the youngest district commander ever appointed.^[7]

After attaining the Wellington-based position of assistant commissioner for strategy and transformation in 2015, Coster was seconded to the Ministry of Justice in 2016 where he was a deputy chief executive leading a court reform project.^[7] Returning to the Police in 2018, Coster was an acting deputy commissioner, during which time he was involved with weapons reforms following the March 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings.^[2]

Police Commissioner

Coster was appointed as the Commissioner of the New Zealand Police on 9 March 2020.^[8] Another candidate as Commissioner was Mike Clement, the then-Deputy Commissioner. He started his term on 3 April 2020 at age 44, becoming the youngest person to assume the role.^[9]

In mid-February 2021, Coster's efforts to combat gang and gun violence was criticised by the National Party's Justice spokesperson Simon Bridges, who described Coster as a "wokester commissioner" in a Twitter post.^[10] On 25 February, Coster defended the Police's "policing by consent" policies in response to criticism by Bridges during a Justice select committee hearing at the New Zealand Parliament.^[11]

During the 2022 Wellington protest, Coster unsuccessfully attempted to convince anti-vaccine mandate protesters to voluntarily remove their illegally parked vehicles from the area around the New Zealand Parliament in mid February 2022.^[12] After protesters refused to vacate the Parliament grounds, he ruled out pursuing enforcement action against protesters due to concerns about violence. Coster instead announced that Police would pursue a policy of "negotiation and de-escalation."^[13] Coster's decision to rule out "enforcement action" was criticised by the National Party's police spokesman Mark Mitchell, who claimed that Coster had lost credibility as Police Commissioner.^[14] On 2 March, Police evicted the remaining anti-mandate protesters following a violent riot.^[15]^[16]

Following the formation of a National-led coalition government after the 2023 New Zealand general election, Police Minister Mitchell met with Coster in early December 2023 to set out expectations on police and combating gangs. Coster agreed to the Minister's expectations.^[17]

In July 2024, Coster announced he would step down as commissioner at the end of his term, which was scheduled for April 2025.^[18] That September, it was announced Coster would leave the role sooner to start his next position as chief executive of the government's new Social Investment Agency in November 2024.^[19] Acting Public Service Commissioner Heather Baggot stated she was "very pleased" to appoint Coster to his new role, and that "[Coster] is a highly respected and impressive public service leader who has considerable experience delivering initiatives to address complex social issues".^[20] In contrast, President of the Police Association of New Zealand, Chris Cahill, took a different view commenting that Coster's resignation was "probably a good call" and that he "hasn't been everyones favourite commissioner".^[21] Coster completed his term as commissioner on 10 November, and was succeeded in the role in an interim capacity by the deputy commissioner Tania Kura the following day.^[22]

Ranks and postings

1996–1997: Police Recruit, Constable
1997–2003: Various different frontline and investigative roles within Counties Manukau and Auckland Metro area
2005–2006: Response Manager/Section Supervisor, Counties Manukau West
2006–2008: District Deployment Manager, Counties Manukau
2009–2013: Area Commander, Auckland City Central
2011–2013: Armed Offenders Squad Commander, Auckland
2013–2015: District Commander, Southern Police District
2015–2016: Assistant Commissioner, Strategy and Transformation
2018: Deputy Commissioner, Resource Management (acting)
2018–2020: Deputy Commissioner, Strategy and Partnerships (acting)
2020–2024: Commissioner of Police^[23]