NSW police chief Ken Moroney has defended his handling of the Macquarie Fields riots, and attacked state Opposition Leader John Brogden for trying to politicise the force.

Liberal leader Mr Brogden is pushing for an upper house inquiry into the four nights of rioting in the southwest Sydney housing estate following a fatal car crash after a police chase on February 26.

Mr Brogden wants the inquiry to target Mr Moroney for what the Opposition Leader called the police’s “softly softly” approach towards the unrest.

The Carr Government yesterday rejected the call as cheap political point-scoring.

As the political battle over the riots intensifies, a national police conference will today examine the issue of police pursuits. The trouble in Macquarie Fields was triggered by the death of two teenagers in a car crash after a high-speed police pursuit of a stolen car allegedly driven by a friend.

One of the world’s best-known police chiefs, William Bratton, famous for his “zero tolerance” approach when he was head of the New York Police Department, will attend the conference. He said police chases in poor neighbourhoods — and any deaths involved — were often the triggers for unrest.

Mr Bratton said the conference on police accountability would pursue the debate and look at revamped police pursuit methods in the US.

An internal police review of the Macquarie Fields riots, overseen by NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Dave Madden and the state Ombudsman, is to begin today. Mr Moroney said policing before, during and after the car chase would be examined.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mr Moroney dismissed newspaper reports he was too close to the Carr Government and claiming rank and file officers had lost faith in the police command.

“I am grossly affronted and insulted by the reported politicisation of the office of police commissioner,” he said.

“I leave the politics to the politicians. I am a career policeman focused on driving down crime.”

But Mr Brogden yesterday, again slammed Mr Moroney’s performance over the riots, giving him a rating of zero out of 10. The Liberal leader said an upper house inquiry should investigate why police had to stand on the streets night after night having bottles, bricks, rocks and molotov cocktails thrown at them.

But the Government rejected the call for another inquiry, and Police Minister Carl Scully said he and the Government had the “highest respect” for Mr Moroney.

Premier Bob Carr said: “Targeting the man and not the policy is not only wrong policy, not only wrong in principle, but sheer bad politics.”