Former top cop Jevon McSkimming has been given a sentence of home detention after being convicted of possessing objectionable material including of child exploitation and bestiality.
In the Wellington High Court today he was sentenced to nine months home detention by Judge Tim Black.
He was not placed on the sex offender register.
McSkimming last month pleaded guilty to three representative charges of possessing objectionable material.
Prosecutors say from 2020 until 2024, on average, 7% of his searches during work hours were either intended or highly likely to find objectionable content.
Those searches returned 2945 images.
A summary of his crimes state many of the images were created by artificial intelligence.
The concerning material on his work devices were discovered during another investigation by the Independent Police Conduct Authority into allegations of sexual misconduct. McSkimming was the Deputy Police Commissioner, the country’s second most powerful police officer, at the time of his suspension in late 2024.
A damning IPCA report released last month found serious misconduct at the highest levels, including by former Commissioner Andrew Coster, over how police responded to the allegations made by a woman McSkimming had been in a relationship with.
McSkimming has not been charged over those allegations.