There was a cover-up in the Jevon McSkimming case, but those cops are gone, police boss says
Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers says there was a cover-up around complaints against former deputy commissioner Jevon McSkimming, but denies a systemic failure within New Zealand Police.
“It’s not a systemic failure for NZ Police … It’s a failure of the former leadership of NZ Police. They should never have handled this matter this way,” Chambers told RNZ on Wednesday morning.
What happened was that the former executive elected to depart from police processes, “and run their own course, frankly, in self-interest”, Chambers said.
Chambers had denied there was any systemic failure when it was put to him that Police processes could not be up to scratch if they allowed the most senior police officers to go outside them.
He was proud of the “moral courage” of the staff who stood up to what was happening, he said.
It was suggested to Chambers that had it not been for the moral courage of those staff, the matter could have been swept under the carpet.
Chambers responded, saying that once the issue was identified in November, the right systems and processes were put in place.
“That should have happened, of course, earlier in the year, and it didn’t. So from November onwards the right thing happened,” Chambers said.
Asked if there had been a cover up, Chambers said: “That’s the way that many will interpret it, and my personal view is that there was a bunch of senior leaders, who have now exited the organisation, who were acting in the self-interest of themselves, frankly, and in particular one individual.
“So, people will interpret the report in their own way, but the way I read it, that’s exactly what happened.”
A report from the Independent Police Conduct Authority, published on Tuesday, detailed how police failed to adequately investigate allegations by a woman against McSkimming.
The allegations against McSkimming included sexual interaction without consent, threats to use an intimate visual recording and misuse of a police credit card and police property to further a sexual relationship.
Last week McSkimming pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.