Former NSW police deputy commissioner Mal Lanyon has been named the state’s new police commissioner, replacing Karen Webb.

The appointment of the 38-year veteran of the NSW police is due to be announced by the premier, Chris Minns, on Wednesday.

Lanyon is currently the acting chief executive of the NSW Reconstruction Authority. He is expected to move to the new role on 1 October.

Webb announced her resignation in May, stepping down almost two years before her contract was due to end, and officially retires from the force on 30 September. Peter Thurtell is currently acting in her role.

Since Webb’s resignation Lanyon has been considered the frontrunner for the role despite media reports on a 2021 incident in which he was found collapsed near Goulburn’s “Big Merino” sculpture, and his admission to taking his wife and another couple aboard an operational police boat for New Year’s Eve in 2023, following a complaint to the police watchdog.

On Friday, Minns was again asked when the government would reveal Webb’s replacement, and whether Lanyon had been ruled out of the running.

Minns said “people do make decisions, sometimes they’re bad decisions, me included”, but said the final appointment would consider the “totality of someone’s career”.

“My experience is that senior police, like our senior public servants in the big portfolios, are eminently professional and just focused on public service,” he said.

More details to come…