The statutory role is important within the constitutional framework of the police and carries a safeguard of independence from the Police Commissioner.<\/p>\n
By law, the rank is a safeguard of independence. Any allegations made against the Commissioner, for example, would be investigated by one of the deputies.<\/p>\n
Or if Richard Chambers was to be incapacitated, for example, Pannett would assume office until a new commissioner was appointed.<\/p>\n
Pannett has held the rank of Assistant Commissioner since 2016 and is currently in charge of the national security programme.<\/p>\n
During that time, he also had a three-year secondment with the Australian Federal Police to oversee branch offices across 33 countries, with a focus on transnational organised crime.<\/p>\n
For the first 30 years of his career, Pannett was based in Auckland and Northland where he led a number of high-profile homicide and organised crime investigations.<\/p>\n
Following that, he had a four-year stint in Washington DC as the liaison officer to the United States, Canada and South America before returning to be the Southern District Commander based in Dunedin.<\/p>\n
He has acted as deputy commissioner in several portfolios this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very pleased to appoint Mr Pannett to this role. He is a highly experienced and respected leader with more than 40 years in policing,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has shown strong leadership in complex and high-pressure situations, both in New Zealand and overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police Minister Mark Mitchell and Police Commissioner Richard Chambers speak about the damning IPCA report into the mishandling of complaints against Jevon McSkimming. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
Pannett was picked over Jill Rogers, who has also been acting in a deputy commissioner role for most of the year. <\/p>\n
She was also the public face of the police during the high-profile shooting of the fugitive father Tom Phillips in the absence of Chambers who was overseas.<\/p>\n
The other applicants interviewed were Mike Johnson and Bruce O\u2019Brien, both currently assistant commissioners.<\/p>\n
Mitchell said that a second non-statutory Deputy Commissioner would be appointed by Chambers. <\/p>\n
His predecessors Andy Coster and Mike Bush also promoted non-statutory deputies through their discretionary powers as Police Commissioner.<\/p>\n
The appointment of Pannett – which comes with an annual salary in excess of $500,000 – will now have a domino effect on how Chambers reshapes his leadership team after a tumultuous year.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Chambers restructured the top of Police National Headquarters, which resulted in a net loss of 19 roles <\/a>(and an estimated annual saving of $2 million).<\/p>\n McSkimming and Tania Kura were exempt because they were statutory appointments made by the previous Labour government, and independent from the Commissioner.<\/p>\n Then Kura followed McSkimming out the door by announcing her retirement in August, followed by Assistant Commissioner Paul Basham in September.<\/p>\n