Jevon McSkimming scandal: An anatomy of a cover-up
Sunday, 16 November 2025
For years, top-ranking police officer Jevon McSkimming’s affair with a young woman and her subsequent complaints were kept out of sight by the police executive.
Government ministers were left unaware. The Public Service Commission was not told as it interviewed McSkimming for senior roles. The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) was also alerted to the woman’s complaints, but missed opportunities to investigate further.
The saga began in 2016 and 10 years later has now been exposed by a damning IPCA report into the handling of the allegations, and the subsequent lifting of a suppression order after charges against the complainant were dropped.
2016 - 2018: the affair
According to the IPCA, McSkimming started a relationship with “Ms Z” in early 2016. She was 21, he was 40. They had met through a sports club.
By April 2016, McSkimming was promoted to assistant commissioner of police. He did not disclose the affair in the vetting process.
Two months later, he emailed a police employee to propose Ms Z be employed in a specific casual role. She began the job in July.
McSkimmingsaid the relationship ended in December 2017. Ms Z had said it continued into 2018. She left the police job in January 2018.
In May that year, McSkimming told his wife of the affair. Andrew Coster later said McSkimming also disclosed the affair to his church. McSkimming told the IPCA this was when Ms Z began harassing him.
April 2020: Coster becomes commissioner
McSkimming told the IPCA that he informed police commissioner Andrew Coster of the affair and “harassing” emails shortly after Coster’s appointment. Coster said it was after McSkimming was appointed deputy commissioner on October 27, 2020.
Coster told the IPCA he considered his deputy’s affair “incredibly poor judgement, but there was nothing in what he said that gave me a sense of a work connection”.
What gave Coster “comfort” was that no concerns were apparently uncovered at an external vetting process for McSkimming’s appointment as deputy. However, McSkimming did not disclose the affair during this process.
The IPCA said Coster should have asked more questions, which he accepted.
By February to March 2021, the IPCA records that McSkimming engages a lawyer who reached an agreement with Ms Z’s lawyer to limit communications which he regarded as harassing.
January - April 2023
Short listing took place for new statutory deputy commissioners, which would be a promotion for McSkimming.
Coster was involved in this and was on the interview panel.
Across February and March the Public Service Commission (PSC) was also involved. The IPCA found that Coster failed to inform deputy public service commissioner Heather Baggott of the affair and the emails, as did another police staffer.
Another police staffer did disclose some information concerning the affair, but “it lacked sufficient specificity to draw PSC’s attention to the nature of the issue” and didn’t mention the emails.
McSkimming was appointed statutory deputy commissioner on April 11, 2023. Tania Kura was made a statutory deputy commissioner alongside him.
May 2023: IPCA becomes involved
In May, the woman commented on a LinkedIn post that announced the appointments.
“Yea should be really proud of Jevon McSkimming who cheats on his wife for years using taxpayer funded hotels and police property to do it in a way that makes him feel ‘safe’, has sexually assaulted at least one police employee on police property, threatens to destroy and ruin people when he is concerned about his behaviour being known…
“He has also taken images of someone without their consent and threatened to use the images to destroy them.”
Police’s senior professional conduct manager was notified, and contacted Kura and the acting director of the Integrity and Conduct unit. Police deleted the comment.
This conduct manager contacted the IPCA the following day, but five days later said it “does not appear” to require investigation.
The IPCA believed a “brief written overview” would follow.
“We failed to follow up the matter with Deputy Commissioner Kura. Our response was inadequate, given the nature of the complaints,” the IPCA said.
Around mid-2023, after Judge Johnston KC became IPCA chair, Coster told the judge of McSkimming’s prior affair. The judge did not know the IPCA was aware of the LinkedIn post.
This was another opportunity missed, the IPCA said.
December 2023 - May 2024: investigation into Ms Z leads to arrest
Ms Z started sending a “large number of anonymous emails” to McSkimming, the IPCA, and others.
The offices of Police Minister Mark Mitchell and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon were among recipients.
Mitchell said he now understands Coster had directed police staff within his office to divert the emails to the commissioner’s office, and not tell Mitchell or his staff.
Luxon said the normal procedure in his office was to refer such emails to the police.
The IPCA said it informed the sender of these emails of how to make a complaint, twice, but on January 15 the sender asked the case be closed, which the IPCA did.
“At around this time, Deputy Commissioner McSkimming called the IPCA and advised that he was being blind copied into our emails with the complainant. He told us he knew who she was, he had had an affair with her years ago and she wouldn’t leave him alone.”
The IPCA said its actions here were “adequate” because, with the complainant asking the case to be closed, the IPCA could not act without a referral from police.
In January 2024, Coster directed Kura to involve the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (FTAC), which suggested the matter be referred to police’s National Integrity Unit and the IPCA.
Kura and another officer ignored this suggestion and “focussed only on the need to make the emails stop, deciding that a criminal investigation into Ms Z was the best means by which to do this”, said the IPCA.
This officer has been named by Stuff as Superintendent Chris Page, who still works for police.
Ms Z made further reports regarding McSkimming to the police 105 reporting line in April.
By May 2024, Ms Z was arrested and charged under the Harmful Digital Communications Act. These charges would later be dropped.
June 2024 onwards: ‘Operation Herb’
Kura and another officer decided the complaints merited investigating, and “Operation Herb” began. The IPCA said this was 3-4 months too late.
Coster said he was involved in this decision. But the officers did not resolve to speak with Ms Z and what followed “was not a standard police adult sexual assault preliminary investigation”, the IPCA said.
A senior adult sexual assault investigator, named by Stuff as Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves, , was involved. However, the usual investigation structure and reporting lines were not set up, and that officer said the situation “didn’t feel right”. She later obtained permission to contact Ms Z directly.
Come July, Coster announced he would leave police in April 2025. He would leave earlier, however, taking up the Social Investment Agency chief executive role.
Two days later, on July 28, Ms Z appeared in court and pleaded not guilty.
September - October 2024: McSkimming applies for commissioner job
Reeves continued exchanging emails with Ms Z. Coster asked how far out from closing the investigation she was on September 16.
A week later, an assistant commissioner -named by Stuff as Paul Basham - directed Operation Herb be closed.
That day, the police commissioner role was advertised for.
On October 8, Coster assured the Public Service Commission that McSkimming was a fit and proper person to be interim police commissioner. His disclosure of a potential issue “fell well short” given what he knew, the IPCA said.
By mid-October, the IPCA asked Coster to refer any complaint regarding McSkimming to them.
The IPCA met with Ms Z, and recommended the National Integrity Unit be involved. “Operation Jefferson” was set up to investigate complaints including “sexual violation by rape, sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and indecent assault,” according to the IPCA.
On October 22, Coster wrote to the IPCA asking it expedite the investigation. (What Coster told the IPCA about this can be read here.)
On October 30, McSkimming was interviewed for the position. That day, Coster had a meeting with senior staff and asked that an investigation into his deputy be quick so as not to impact McSkimming’s job application.
November - December 2024: Coster leaves; police minister told
A day after McSkimming was interviewed for the job, on November 1 2024, the integrity unit interviewed Ms Z - the first of three that month.
Coster informed Mark Mitchell that the IPCA were investigating McSkimming and the affair “that had soured” on November 6. Mitchell said this week he was given a narrative of McSkimming being a victim.
The same day, Mitchell met with the Public Service Commission and the Solicitor-General to express concern about McSkimming’s “ongoing fit and proper person status”.
Coster’s last day as commissioner was November 10.
Mitchell said he followed up with the Public Service Commission and Solicitor-General on November 13. The following day he wrote to Kura, then the acting commissioner, to “highlight my concern that investigations are properly and carefully conducted”.
“I received a reply the next day that it had been agreed that McSkimming would be placed on special leave.”
Two weeks later, on November 25, Richard Chambers became police commissioner.
That day, the terms of reference for a criminal investigation into McSkimming was finalised.
The integrity unit had its final interview with Ms Z on November 27. The investigation found “insufficient evidence to establish the offences to the criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt, so no prosecution was commenced”.
Luxon said Mitchell made him aware of an investigation into McSkimming in late-November.
On December 11, Mitchell said, further information was brought to him about the complaints about McSkimming. He asked the Public Service Commissioner to begin the process of suspending McSkimming’s warrant while he was investigated, which it was in December.
May 2025: McSkimming resigns
Mitchell said he was told of a further investigation into objectionable material found on McSkimming’s police laptop, in May 2025. He advised the Public Service Commission he was no longer satisfied that he remained a fit and proper person to hold statutory office.
“Three days later, this information was presented to McSkimming and the following Monday, 12 May, he chose to resign.”
July - September 2025: police execs head for the door
More than six months into Chambers’ tenure as police commissioner, on July 24, 2025, Kura announced her retirement. She was expected to be on long service leave before officially leaving in November.
Come September 15, Basham, the assistant commissioner that closed Operation Herb, also announced his retirement, from January 2026 after long service leave.