IN CONFIDENCE
Police Executive’s structure and support arrangements
Targeted re-consultation document
February 2025
Message from the Commissioner
Last month, I shared ideas on how we might differently structure the most senior levels of the Police Executive, as well as various support arrangements based
at Police National Headquarters.
When the January consultation document was released, I emphasised the proposed changes were open for feedback, and no final decisions had been made. I
also invited submissions that chal enged me to be even bolder in some areas, if people thought there were further ways to make improvements.
Consistent with that commitment, fol owing the close of the initial consultation period, I have taken on board a number of valuable suggestions for how aspects
of the original proposal might be adjusted to better effect. I have also had drawn to my attention new information about certain positions which recommend
that I look at different configurations of some roles and responsibilities, while still delivering on a slimmed down Police Executive and its support arrangements.
In the January consultation document, I deliberately left space for the possibility that there might be targeted re-consultation before final decisions were made.
This document is the vehicle for that re-consultation opportunity.
It is being made available by email to those employees whose positions are potentially impacted by changes which I am contemplating to the original proposal.
It is designed to be read alongside the January consultation document and does not repeat the standard-form information contained in that earlier document.
Feedback on these alternative proposals for change can be provided by individuals, teams, or groups who would be directly impacted by the proposed changes
(or through your service organisation, if you belong to one). While others might also have an interest in the alternative options set out in the following pages,
my primary interest is in hearing from those who would be directly impacted, should I decide to proceed with the newly proposed changes.
The closing date for feedback on this re-consultation proposal will be
5.00pm Monday 24 February 2025. As before, any feedback should be sent by email to
[email address]. Al further submissions wil be acknowledged, and I am genuinely interested to hear your thoughts on these updated proposals.
Richard Chambers
Commissioner of Police
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Section 1: Suggested proposed changes to the original proposal
The organisation charts on the following pages reflect updated proposed structures, where relevant, and impacts of the updated change proposal on existing workgroups.
Brief commentary highlighting key proposed changes is also provided. If a position is not shown or listed, it is not proposed to be impacted by this re-consultation process.
The key for all charts is:
Deputy Commissioner (1)
Key changes contemplated in this proposed alternative structure are:
• The Assistant Commissioners (ACs) with portfolio responsibility for Deployment and Iwi and Community Partnerships, and the Executive Director (ED) Service, Victims and
Resolutions will have a reporting line change from Deputy Commissioner (2) to Deputy Commissioner (1)
• Locating the AC with portfolio responsibility for Iwi and Community Partnerships in Auckland, with accountability for key relationships across Auckland
• The ACs with portfolio responsibility for Investigations, Serious and Organised Crime and National Security and International, the ED Firearms Safety Authority and the Bay
of Plenty District Commander will have a reporting line change from Deputy Commissioner (1) to Deputy Commissioner (2)
• Deployment Commander: TM will have a reporting line change from AC with portfolio responsibility for Road Policing and District Support to Deputy Commissioner (1)
• Director: Prevention and Partnerships will have a reporting line change from AC with portfolio responsibility for Iwi and Community Partnerships to AC with portfolio
responsibility for Road Policing and District Support.
I acknowledge the strength of submissions which have called for the transfer of the AC: Iwi and Community Partnerships portfolio from DC (2) to DC (1), and that this would
enable a greater focus on iwi relationships and multi-ethnic communities, particularly in Auckland. I also acknowledge feedback calling for the reporting line of the ED: Firearms
Safety Authority to be maintained, given oversight of the regulatory work of the Firearms Safety Authority a significant undertaking in its own right. As such, I propose to swap
the DC reporting lines for these two positions.
I also agree with the points made in several submissions that there would be significant benefit, in terms of resilience and the ability to swiftly implement expectations under the
government’s catastrophic readiness work programme, if one or more Tier 2/3 leaders were based outside of Wellington. While a longer-term aspiration might be to seek to
locate one of the Deputy Commissioners in Auckland, a more immediate opportunity exists to place the AC with portfolio responsibility for Iwi and Community Partnerships in
Auckland. I propose that this AC position would have accountability for key relationships across Auckland, and in line with suggestions made in a number of submissions, it would
also make sense to also bring under the AC’s wing the work being advanced by the Director: TM Partnerships.
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I acknowledge feedback which stressed the importance of alignment between the three Auckland District Commanders and the Deployment Commander: TM. While there is
symmetry in running with a split of six Districts for each Deputy, there is no magic in a straight 50/50 division. Instead, I am now proposing for DC (1) to take on responsibility for
the five northern-most Districts, with the Bay of Plenty District Commander in future reporting to DC (2). Allowing for such an adjustment would mean DC (1) can take the
reporting line for the Deployment Commander: TM.
To ensure a sustained and deliberate focus on community partnerships by the AC with portfolio responsibility for Iwi and Community Partnerships, I also agree with feedback
to adjust the reporting line for the Director: Prevention and Partnerships to the AC with portfolio responsibility for Road Policing and District Support.
Figure 1: Assistant Commissioner: Deployment – Updated future state
Key changes contemplated in this proposed alternative structure are:
• Director: Emergency Communications Centres will have a reporting line change from the AC: Deployment to the ED: Service, Victims and Resolutions
• Director: RNZPC will have a reporting line change from the initially suggested portfolio of AC: Infrastructure and Capability to AC: Deployment
• Instead of the AC: Deployment being responsible for a new position formed by combining Director: Workforce Management and Director: Data and Performance, the new
joint Directorate would be formed by combining the teams reporting to the Director: Deployment and Director: Workforce Management
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• The new position of Director: Deployment and Workforce would pick up responsibility for the Strategic Workforce Planning Advisor, currently reporting up through the
Director: Recruitment
• Director: Data and Performance would have a minor title change to Director: Data and Performance Insights. It is proposed the specialist Data Quality and Integrity Team
(DQIT) transfers to report to the new position of Director: Frontline Enablement.
I also acknowledge the weight of submissions which cast doubt on the proposal for a new Workforce, Data and Performance Directorate, and accept the feedback that stronger
synergies seem possible by bringing together specialists working under the Director: Deployment and Director: Workforce Management. Allowing the Data and Performance
team to remain largely ‘as is’ and continue to bed in after only recently being brought together, also gives that Directorate a chance to succeed. That said, I can see the logic
of having DQIT become part of the Frontline Enablement Directorate, providing valuable extra support to work aimed at assisting and enabling frontline staff.
Looking for stronger synergies and supporting a unified focus on delivering excel ent services, also sits behind the new proposal to combine the work of our emergency and
non-emergency service groups under a single Executive lead.
Figure 2: Director: RNZPC – Updated future state
At the RNZPC, I propose to create a position of Operations Manager: RNZPC, which would function as a
de facto 2IC to the Director: RNZPC. Such a role would offer valuable
additional stability and resilience to the College’s senior leadership team, and via various reporting line changes would lighten the overall management load on the Director’s
position. The model of having a College 2IC is one that worked successful y in the past, and I am eager to hear people’s thoughts on whether it can do so again in the future.
With the added senior leadership support of an empowered new Operations Manager at the RNZPC, I also see the opportunity to remove a further middle management role
(Manager: Governance and Strategy) from the College’s structure. There is arguably less need for such a standalone role, especially as there is no longer an ongoing need for
such a position to support the previous ‘three Director model’ which existed at the Col ege; nor to continue to service an Independent Advisory Board set up for the Col ege.
Consequential reporting line changes are also proposed. First, the Senior Trainer: Emergency Management, Command and Control would report to one of the Leadership
Practice Managers, helping ensure the Senior Trainer role better honours its purpose of delivering Leadership Development Framework courses. Secondly, to ensure the
integrity of the quality assurance framework for learning, I propose that the Senior Teaching and Learning Advisor would in future report to the Operations Manager, RNZPC.
Finally, with the proposed disestablishment of the Manager: Governance and Strategy, that position’s two current direct reports would also report to the new Operations
Manager: RNZPC.
Figure 3: Director: Deployment and Workforce – Updated future state
The key change contemplated here is to seek out greater synergies by forming a joint Directorate through integration of teams reporting to the current Director: Deployment
and Director: Workforce Management. As part of drawing together in a centre of excellence model all key staff who support enterprise analysis and advice on workforce
deployment, it is also proposed the Strategic Workforce Planning Advisor currently reporting up through the Director: Recruitment would transfer into the joint Deployment
and Workforce Directorate.
Deputy Commissioner (2)
Key changes contemplated in the proposed alternative structure are:
• The AC: Deployment, AC: Iwi and Community Partnerships, and the ED: Service, Victims and Resolutions will have a reporting line change from Deputy Commissioner (2) to
Deputy Commissioner (1)
• The AC: Investigations, Serious and Organised Crime, AC: National Security and International, ED: Firearms Safety Authority and Bay of Plenty District Commander will have
a reporting line change from Deputy Commissioner (1) to Deputy Commissioner (2)
• Director: Integrity and Conduct will have a reporting line change from Deputy Commissioner (2) to the Chief Operating Officer (COO).
I have briefly mentioned some of the rationale behind these proposed reporting line changes, which address concerns raised in submissions about span of control issues and
other considerations; such as not unsettling the existing oversight which Deputy Commissioner (2) has had over the work of the Firearms Safety Authority, and bringing the allied
responsibilities of AC: Investigations, Serious and Organised Crime and AC: National Security and International closer together under a common Executive grouping.
Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Key changes contemplated in the proposed alternative structure are:
• Director: Integrity and Conduct will have a reporting line change from Deputy Commissioner (2) to the Chief Operating Officer (COO)
• Job title change and removal of previous sworn-only status of formerly titled AC: Capability and Infrastructure (which becomes Chief Capability and Infrastructure Officer)
• Director: ERP and Programme Delivery will have a reporting line change from the COO to the Chief Capability and Infrastructure Officer.
Proposing to shift the reporting line of the Director: Integrity and Conduct from DC (2) to the COO aligns the people and culture focused nature of the Integrity and Conduct
Group with the other people-oriented functions which report up to the COO via the Chief People Officer. The proposed realignment has the double virtue of increasing the level
of operational policing experience able to be called upon around the COO’s SLT table, by adding a constabulary perspective to the COO’s senior leadership team.
On the issue of the previously proposed constabulary-only status of what was titled AC: Capability and Infrastructure, I acknowledge the strength and consistency of feedback
received through the initial consultation phase, and agree it is better to open this role to all. It is right that we should broaden the pool of potential appointees to ensure we
obtain the skills, knowledge and experience we are looking for in this strategically important role.
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I also propose to lift the position of Manager: ER Legal to report directly to the Chief People Officer. The suggested repositioning would align better with the direction set by the
proposed People Services Operating Model. As a member of the Chief People Officer’s senior leadership team, the Manager: ER Legal would also be better placed to ensure that
specialist employment relations legal advice is closely integrated into relevant human resources work and operational functions.
Apart from the earlier-discussed change in proposed job title and employee type for the Chief Capability and Infrastructure Officer, the only material change contemplated in the
proposed alternative structure is the reporting line change from the COO to the Chief Capability and Infrastructure Officer for the Director: ERP and Programme Delivery. This
suggested realignment would assist with maintaining an appropriate span of control for the COO, leaving that ELT level position with seven, rather than eight, main direct
reports. Drawing the Director: ERP and Programme Delivery closer to the combined portfolio responsibilities, and the expected commercial acumen, of the Chief Capability
and Infrastructure Officer would also create a stronger platform for steering the Enterprise Resource Management programme through to a successful conclusion.
Figure 4: Chief Policy and Planning Officer – Updated future state
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Key changes contemplated in this proposed alternative structure are:
• Manager: Business Reporting will have a reporting line change from Director: Investment Management, Planning and Delivery to Manager: Ministerial Services
• No longer proposing that a new Manager: Strategy would be created. The three Principal Strategic Advisor positions are still proposed to reduce from the current three
positions down to two positions
• Proposing that the two current Senior Strategic Advisor positions would similarly be a ‘many to few’ situation, reducing the current two positions down to one position
• Reporting line changes for the remaining two Principal Strategic Advisors, and the sole Senior Strategic Advisor, to report up to the Chief Advisor who supports the COO.
These proposed changes respond to several submissions received as part of initial consultation on how our central strategy team specialists operate. I am conscious of the
perception that repurposing one of the three Principal Strategic Advisors positions into a new team manager role tends to run counter to the direction seen with other proposed
changes which look for efficiencies through reductions in the number of middle-manager roles. I am also mindful of the fact that we are likely to have a relatively stable set of
strategies we wil be executing on over the coming years, so there is arguably less need for ‘blue skies thinking’ on strategy at Police National Headquarters, but rather a focus on
strategy implementation. To that end and having received suggestions on being even bolder when looking for efficiencies at the centre which can potentially be reinvested in
higher priority areas elsewhere, I further propose we decrease the number of Senior Strategic Advisors working in PNHQ’s national strategy function, dropping from two to one.
To help ensure the remaining strategy specialists can plug in most effectively to senior decision makers and maximise the impact of their advice and support across key teams,
my proposal is that they report more directly into the Chief Operating Officer, by adjusting their reporting line to the Chief Advisor to the COO (rather than reporting via a busy
Tier 3 Executive). Because of this proposed realignment, it would then be appropriate to rename the formerly-suggested Chief Strategy and Policy Officer role to Chief Policy and
Planning Officer. This would have the added virtue of lifting into the job title of this revamped Tier 3 role the important work of Police’s investment and business planning teams.
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Support available
It is important all staff have the support they need throughout the change process. Whether you have questions about the proposed changes or require support in dealing
with the impact they may have on your position, the fol owing people or groups can provide support.
You should speak with your manager in the first instance if you are feeling anxious or upset about the process or its impact on you, and we encourage you to do so as
soon as possible. We also encourage you to consider seeking support and guidance from those you trust. This may include cultural or community advisors, or other
members of your network.
Wel ness support
Refer to Safer People Contacts on Ten One to make contact with your local Wellness Advisor.
Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
You can use Police’s Employee Assistance Programme, which provides a free confidential, 24/7 service for Police employees and their families. This includes Rongoā
Māori Support Services that provide Māori counsellors for Māori clients.
Contact our contracted external provider to book an appointment online via https://www.eapservices.co.nz or cal them on 0800 327 669.
Service organisations
This consultation document has been provided to the service organisations (the New Zealand Police Association, New Zealand Police Leader’s Guild, and the New
Zealand Public Service Association). You may wish to contact your service organisation for advice and support:
New Zealand Police Association
[email address] (President) -
New Zealand Police Leaders' Guild
[email address] –
New Zealand Public Service Association
[email address] (Organiser) –
Independent advice
You may get your own independent advice on this proposal. This wil be at your own cost.
You are entitled to bring along a representative or support person to any meeting we have with you regarding this proposal.
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