List of commissioners of the New South Wales Police

The Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force (known from 1851 to 1926 as the Inspector-General of the New South Wales Police Force) is the head of New South Wales Police Force. The post is currently held by Karen Webb, who replaced Mick Fuller on 1 February 2022.^[1] The rank is usually referred to as the New South Wales Police Commissioner or simply just "Commissioner". The New South Wales Police Force has had 23 Commissioners since 1851.

History

The role was established under the Act for the Regulation of the Police Force in New South Wales 1850 (known as the 'Colonial Police Act 1850'), which provided for the appointment by the Governor of New South Wales of an Inspector-General of Police.^[2] This act was repealed with the passage of the Police Regulation Act of 1862, which amalgamated the various police forces in the colony into one force responsible to the Inspector-General in Sydney.^[3]

The first Inspector-General of Police was appointed on 1 January 1851. The title was changed to be "Commissioner" on 8 January 1926, although the official title would legally remain as "Inspector-General" until the passage of the Police Regulation (Amendment) Act 1935.^[4]

List of inspectors-general and commissioners

Ordinal	Officeholder	Post nominals	Title	Term start	Term end	Time in office	Notes
1	William Spain		Inspector-General of Police	1 January 1851 (1851-01-01)	31 December 1851 (1851-12-31)	364 days	[5]
2	Captain William Mayne			1 January 1852 (1852-01-01)	17 September 1856 (1856-09-17)	4 years, 260 days	[6]
3	Captain John McLerie			28 October 1856 (1856-10-28)	6 October 1874 (1874-10-06)	17 years, 343 days	[7]
4	Edmund Walcott Fosbery	CMG		7 October 1874 (1874-10-07)	30 June 1904 (1904-06-30)	29 years, 267 days	[8]
5	Thomas Garvin	ISO		1 July 1904 (1904-07-01)	31 December 1910 (1910-12-31)	6 years, 183 days	[9]
6	Ernest Charles Day			1 January 1911 (1911-01-01)	9 January 1915 (1915-01-09)	4 years, 8 days	[10]
7	James Mitchell	CBE		1 January 1915 (1915-01-01)	8 January 1926 (1926-01-08)	15 years, 78 days	[11]
			Commissioner of Police	9 January 1926 (1926-01-09)	20 March 1930 (1930-03-20)
8	Walter Henry Childs	MVO		21 March 1930 (1930-03-21)	23 March 1935 (1935-03-23)	5 years, 2 days
9	William John MacKay			24 March 1935 (1935-03-24)	22 January 1948 (1948-01-22)	12 years, 304 days	[12]
10	James Frederick Scott			18 February 1948 (1948-02-18)	13 October 1952 (1952-10-13)	4 years, 238 days
11	Colin Delaney	CVO, CBE, QPM		14 October 1952 (1952-10-14)	27 February 1962 (1962-02-27)	9 years, 136 days	[13]
12	Norman Allan	CMG, MVO, QPM		28 February 1962 (1962-02-28)	14 November 1972 (1972-11-14)	10 years, 260 days
13	Frederick Hanson	CBE, QPM		15 November 1972 (1972-11-15)	31 December 1976 (1976-12-31)	4 years, 46 days
14	Mervyn Wood	LVO, MBE, QPM		1 January 1977 (1977-01-01)	5 June 1979 (1979-06-05)	2 years, 155 days
15	Jim Lees	QPM		17 October 1979 (1979-10-17)	29 December 1981 (1981-12-29)	2 years, 73 days
16	Cecil Abbott	AO, QPM		30 December 1981 (1981-12-30)	7 August 1984	2 years, 221 days
17	John Avery	AO, APM		7 August 1984 (1984-08-07)	12 March 1991 (1991-03-12)	6 years, 217 days
18	Tony Lauer	APM		13 March 1991 (1991-03-13)	19 September 1996 (1996-09-19)	5 years, 190 days
-	Neil Owen Taylor	APM	Acting Commissioner of Police	20 February 1996 (1996-02-20)	29 August 1996 (1996-08-29)	191 days	[14]
19	Peter Ryan	QPM	Commissioner of Police	30 August 1996 (1996-08-30)	17 April 2002 (2002-04-17)	5 years, 230 days
20	Ken Moroney	AO, APM		18 April 2002 (2002-04-18)	31 August 2007 (2007-08-31)	5 years, 135 days
21	Andrew Scipione	AO, APM		31 August 2007 (2007-08-31)	31 March 2017 (2017-03-31)	9 years, 212 days	[15]
22	Mick Fuller	APM		31 March 2017 (2017-03-31)	31 January 2022 (2022-01-31)	4 years, 306 days	[16]
23	Karen Webb	APM		1 February 2022 (2022-02-01)	Incumbent	3 years, 101 days	[17][18]