State urged not to plod on appointing next police chief

Praised by many, including Premier Chris Minns as standing "tall in moments of crisis", she also faced down many detractors.

Ms Webb had planned to make the announcement on May 18, commemorating the date she walked into the Goulburn Police Academy 38 years ago.

But continuing the trend of a turbulent tenure, the news was leaked on Wednesday, forcing her and the government to respond.

Michael Kennedy, a former detective with NSW Police for two decades, said there were plenty of capable and ambitious leaders within the ranks of the force.

But the Western Sydney University professor believes the force needs to address deep-rooted problems such as recruitment and retention.

"The place has ended up being like a mafia institution," Dr Kennedy, who once worked with Ms Webb, told AAP.

"The modern police (force) has changed for the worse. They can't recruit, they can't retain, and that's a problem she began fixing up that were put in place by her predecessor. 

Several candidates have been floated as strong possible successors, such as frontrunner Mal Lanyon, who heads up the state's Reconstruction Authority, assistant commissioner Gavin Wood and deputy commissioner David Hudson.

Dr Kennedy said whoever ended up at the helm needed to take a page out of Ms Webb's book by focusing on teamwork and collaboration.

"I'd like to see another woman replace Karen Webb. There's half a dozen of them who would do the job standing on their head," the criminologist said.

Paul Toole, the opposition's police spokesman, said the transition period of four months before installing Paul Thurtell as interim commissioner was too long.

He also took a parting shot at Ms Webb, saying the next commissioner needed to be "someone who can also stand up in front of the media".

"Their job is to portray to the public and to the police force that there is confidence in the work that police are doing in the state," Mr Toole said.