- By Jane Nixon
The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) has found senior police failed to follow proper procedure when serious complaints were made against then-Police Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming and instead launched a prosecution against the woman who reported him.
The IPCA report, released today, November 11, says police leaders showed “serious misconduct” and a “total lack of leadership and integrity” in how they handled complaints dating back to 2023 and early 2024.
The IPCA’s findings come just days after McSkimming, 52, appeared in the Wellington District Court on November 6 and pleaded guilty to possessing objectionable material.
The charges relate to images of child sexual exploitation and bestiality found on his police-issued devices while he was being investigated over another matter.
It was that wider inquiry which first brought to light the full extent of McSkimming’s alleged offending.
The ’other matter’
The female complainant, referred to in the IPCA report as ‘Ms Z’, made allegations about McSkimming relating to sexual activity without consent, threats to use an intimate recording, and misuse of police property.
At the time, the allegations arose from a sexual relationship between McSkimming, then aged 40, and the 21-year-old complainant.
Instead of investigating her claims, police pursued her under the Harmful Digital Communications Act. The charge laid against her was only recently withdrawn by the Crown.
According to the IPCA, “the only investigation that was launched focused on potential offences by the complainant, leading to her prosecution”.
The authority found senior figures, including the then-Commissioner, two deputy commissioners and an assistant commissioner, failed to act when complaints were raised via emails, social-media posts and the police 105 reporting line.
When police eventually referred the case to the IPCA in October, 2024, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster tried to influence the scope and timing of the watchdog’s investigation, which the authority said appeared designed to avoid affecting McSkimming’s prospects of becoming the next commissioner.
It also found Coster failed to disclose his knowledge of the relationship during earlier appointment processes.
The report concluded these failures “undermined the integrity of the organisation as a whole” and revealed deep flaws in how senior police manage internal integrity risks.
“The usual integrity checks and balances were bypassed,” the authority says, as it calls for stronger oversight, legislative reform, and clearer accountability for senior-level conduct.
Commissioner apologises to complainant
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers says the findings show “inexcusable conduct by former senior leaders of New Zealand Police”.
“The ambitions of a senior police officer were put above the interests of a vulnerable woman. She was ignored and badly let down. That was unacceptable.”
Chambers says the report’s account of “departures from expected processes” made for “appalling reading” and amounted to “a total lack of leadership and integrity at the highest levels”.
“It was a failing of leadership,” he says. “The attitudes on display here are inexcusable and show a disrespect and disregard for what NZ Police stands for.”
He says most of those involved have since left the organisation and an independent King’s Counsel would oversee any necessary employment investigations.
Chambers confirmed a wide-ranging integrity reform programme was under way, including an uplift to the National Integrity Unit, revisions to the Police Code of Conduct, and a Public Service Commission performance review focusing on integrity and conduct.
“The absolute worst outcome would be if anyone felt unsafe reporting sexual assault to police,” he says. “I want to reassure you that is not the case.”
Calls for stronger oversight
The IPCA has recommended legislative and structural reforms to strengthen independence in misconduct investigations, expand the authority’s oversight powers, and ensure ministerial and parliamentary scrutiny of future integrity cases.
Its report emphasised that while most officers act with fairness and restraint, the failures in this case show the need for “a sustained plan of action” to rebuild public trust that police will act “without fear or favour”.
