The highest-ranking police officers in New Zealand ignored anonymous allegations that McSkimming was a sexual predator.
Instead, the emails sent by the young female complainant were used by police as evidence to prosecute her.
Chambers earlier this week gave a scathing assessment of his predecessor Coster’s handling of the allegations against McSkimming and the decision to keep sex complaints against the former top cop secret.
He called the situation “an absolute disgrace”.
Today, Chambers said New Zealanders could trust the police.
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers attends the graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 390 in Auckland. Photo / Jason Dorday
“Trust is critically important for us to be able to do our job. We need New Zealanders to have faith in their police, and they can,” Chambers said.
“The events of this week are appalling. I’ve been very clear with my thoughts on it, lack of leadership, lack of integrity, but actually, let’s not forget 15,000 men and women do a great job day and night.
“We’ve got to move forward. We’ve actually got to just crack on and do the right thing for our country.
“As I said earlier in the week, this whole experience has been a kick in the guts for members of New Zealand Police, whether you’re on the frontline or with your civilian colleagues. It’s appalling behaviour, but I really do want my organisation to move forward and do their absolute best.”
Chambers said the IPCA report “speaks for itself”.
“As I have previously said, the behaviours of some of the most senior officers in New Zealand Police, now former, were one of groupthink self-interest, and they put aside the needs of a woman reaching out who wanted to tell the police something. And that was not important to the senior leadership; that’s the way it appears. That must never happen again.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to put things in place. My job as Commissioner of Police is to steer our organisation with a new leadership team.”
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers and Associate Minister of Police Casey Costello at today’s graduation ceremony in Auckland. Photo / Jason Dorday
Yesterday, Chambers attended a Wellington graduation ceremony for new recruits, where he admitted he was pulled over for speeding last week.
He told the recruits getting pulled over was the “dumbest thing I’ve done” as commissioner, saying he was “away with the fairies” at the time.
Chambers today said a lot of people have had a lot of laughs at his expense over the speeding ticket.
He said he saw lights flashing behind him in the car and he thought, “oops, something’s not right here”.
“I’m a human being”, Chambers said.
Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.