A newly appointed police chief has been slammed for going to a function at a Maserati dealership where her husband works while her officers fought to save homes from floods.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb attended an International Women’s Day event during the state’s deadly and devastating weather, but said she has no regrets.
She was photographed smiling alongside television personality Kate Peck in front of a $400,000 car while thousands of people were evacuated from Sydney’s Northern Beaches region amid torrential rain.
While she was at the function on Tuesday, police officers were out risking their lives in communities lashed by flash flooding.
Police Commissioner Karen Webb (pictured left) with television presenter Kate Peck (right) at an International Women’s Day lunch held at a Sydney Maserati showroom on Tuesday
Pictured are Senior Constable Ben King and Senior Constable Adam Davis who showed incredible bravery, along with two civilians, as they rescued 93-year-old Mary from her flooded home in Lismore
At 8.30 that morning Police Rescue and the SES pulled the bodies of 67-year-old Hemalathasolhyr Satchithanantham and her son Bramooth from Coopers Creek Canal at Wentworthville.
By Wednesday night, eight people had died in the NSW floods.
But Ms Webb said she did ‘not regret for one minute’ going to the event because it was a Police Legacy charity function.
She told radio station 2GB’s Ben Fordham that she had been taking calls about the floods ‘the whole time’ she was at the event.
‘International Women’s Day happens once a year, I think it’s important as Commissioner of Police that I show some leadership in terms of the messaging to young women,’ Ms Webb said.
‘I don’t regret (going to the lunch) for one minute because caring for the police family is important … I’ve been on the phone 24/7 for the floods and making sure we’ve got police resources where we need them, it wasn’t an event I went to and did nothing else.
‘I was on point for police the whole time.’
The police head acknowledged that some people caught up in the floods might be shocked she attended the glamorous event, but that it was just a ‘coincidence’ the devastating weather happened on the same day.
New South Wales Police Rescue are seen patrolling in floodwater at Windsor, north-west of Sydney
On the day the NSW Police Commissioner posed in front of a $400,000 luxury car, Police Rescue and the SES pulled the bodies of 67-year-old Hemalathasolhyr Satchithanantham and her son Bramooth from Coopers Creek Canal at Wentworthville (pictured)
‘I can imagine that people wonder what’s going on, but it was a two-hour event that I whipped into and out of, and I was on the phone during the lunch organising resources for the floods,’ she said.
Ms Webb said she would have also have been criticised if she didn’t go to the function.
‘It’s one small thing I’ve done in a big week of visiting flooded areas … I can’t account for the weather on that particular day, it had been organised in advance.
‘It would’ve been a poor showing and I would’ve been criticised if I didn’t turn up,’ she said.
‘You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.’
A car is pictured in a raging torrent of floodwater in Manly on the day the NSW Police Commissioner attended functions at a Maserati dealership and a $47,525-a-year private school
Ms Webb said her husband Marc was an employee of the Maserati dealership where the International Women’s Day event was held.
‘He’s been a supporter of the police for many years and supported me in my endeavours, which is nice,’ she said.
Earlier on the same day, Ms Webb visited private girls’ school MLC which has fees of up to $47,525 a year.
Neither event was promoted by the NSW Police to the press and Ms Webb has not yet held a media conference since being sworn in on February 1.
The Maserati event raised $36,000 for Police Legacy and the Police and Community Youth Club.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb (pictured centre) with school students while her officers were out rescuing people from floodwaters and risking their own lives
A spokesman for Ms Webb said: ‘In the past seven days Commissioner Webb has attended the Northern Rivers Region twice and the Windsor/Nepean area relating to the flood response.
‘(Ms Webb) is so proud of the efforts of all NSWPF officers who day after day go above and beyond to protect their communities.’
In a post about the Maserati function, Ms Peck wrote: ‘Meet the first ever female NSW POLICE COMMISSIONER. You don’t get more BOSS than that.
‘Karen Webb, a true honour to interview you for International Women’s Day with @maseratiau @maseratisydney.
‘May the force be with you because women world wide are.’