Smith had earlier pleaded guilty to corrupt use of official information, accessing a computer system for a dishonest purpose and possession of a Class-A drug.
The court heard she now realised the potential impact of her offending after her new partner pointed out that passing an informant’s name to a patched gang member could result in that person’s death.
Defence lawyer Emma Riddell told the court Smith’s offending resulted from misguided loyalties and was not borne out of greed or malice.
She had made a “terrible mistake”.
Her client had received significant online abuse after the Herald published her name in October in connection with the charges.
Smith had no previous criminal convictions and, despite a difficult upbringing, had led an otherwise upstanding life.
Home detention was an appropriate outcome and Smith did not deserve a custodial sentence, Riddell argued.
However, Judge Yelena Yelavich said Smith’s crimes involved a significant breach of trust, given her role as a police officer.
The public should have confidence that police employees would not disclose confidential information or intelligence to organised criminals.
The court needed to send an appropriate message of deterrence, which in this case meant two years and three months behind bars.
‘A bit of a bad boy’
Smith joined the police in March 2022 and was posted to work in Auckland after completing the 20-week recruitment training course at the Police College in Porirua.
However, she was already in a secret relationship with a Killer Beez motorcycle gang member, having met her “bad boy” on Tinder before she joined the police.
According to a summary of facts, just months after becoming a sworn officer, Smith sent her boyfriend the name of someone she described as a “snitch” after arresting the man for minor traffic and theft offences in August 2022.
During an intelligence-gathering interview conducted by another officer, the suspect disclosed the addresses of West Auckland properties that he believed were being used to manufacture drugs.
After the meeting, Smith messaged her boyfriend and disclosed the identity of the “snitch”.
Summer Moana Pearl Smith, 32, has been jailed for leaking confidential police information to her gang member boyfriend.
“His name’s [redacted] he was giving intel at work … names of some cook houses out west,” Smith wrote.
“Just wanted to make sure you’re not linked in with them or anything.”
The gang member replied that the name didn’t “ring a bell”.
A few months later, Smith leaked more sensitive information to her boyfriend.
In December 2022, Smith took a photo of the gang member’s profile on the National Intelligence Application (NIA), the police computer system.
She also took a photo of a list of all the cars and motorcycles linked to him.
The following month, she sent the screenshots to her boyfriend after he indicated there was a “bit of heat” on him – despite knowing she could lose her job for making unauthorised NIA checks on the gang member.
He told Smith he would be “extra cautious” and sell the vehicles to “stay out of jail”.
Around that same time, Smith also asked her boyfriend for drugs to party on the weekend.
In a later message, she sent him a photo of a small ziplock bag of cocaine. Smith was at a music festival and shared the Class-A drug with her friends.
The Killer Beez are a motorcycle gang with a strong presence in Auckland and Northland, with patched members convicted of serious violence and drug offending. Photo / NZME
Three months later, in April 2023, her boyfriend was arrested with other Killer Beez associates following a covert police investigation which stopped a 265kg drug shipment.
He was charged with importing methamphetamine, supplying the Class-A drug and participating in an organised criminal group, and money-laundering more than $1 million in cash.
As a result, the police searched his phone and uncovered the messages with Smith.
When confronted by detectives from the National Integrity Unit in September 2023, Smith confessed to everything.
She confirmed that she had met the gang member on Tinder before joining the police and was aware of his affiliations to the Killer Beez.
She told police they were in a sexual relationship and saw each other about once a month. Her actions were “definitely wrong”.
“I knew I shouldn’t be doing it.”
She said she disclosed the informant’s name because of her feeling for her boyfriend, rather than financial reward.
“I basically fell in love with this f***en gangster dude … I fell for a guy that’s just not the right person.”
She admitted leaking the NIA information too “because I was sleeping with him”.
“I knew he was a bit of a bad boy … it was definitely stupid. Um, yeah, ah very f***ed up from me and I shouldn’t have done it.”
She resigned the next month and moved to Australia, but was arrested after returning to New Zealand in December 2024.
‘A career choice that just didn’t fit’
Crown prosecutor Usha Keller told the court Smith was aware of her boyfriend’s gang links “from the outset” and understood the risks of consorting with him.
While Smith was seeking credit for her lack of previous convictions and good character, her clean record had allowed her to gain employment as a police officer from which she disclosed sensitive and confidential information.
In terms of remorse, a pre-sentencing report showed Smith appeared to be most concerned about embarrassment to her family and the potential impacts on her own travel and employment prospects, Keller said.
Smith had said the relationship “gave her excitement”.
The Crown submitted that a sentence of imprisonment was warranted.
Riddell said that although the disclosures were intentional, her client was not motivated by greed or malice.
“It was more a situation of misguided loyalty.”
Smith’s infatuation with the gang member and a need for “emotional validation” were also key factors, Riddell said.
Summer Moana Pearl Smith, 32, is a former police constable who has pleaded guilty to criminal charges relating to leaking information to her boyfriend who was a gang member.
Smith had held down jobs in various industries before joining the police. She was “not a vindictive person” and the offending was a “blip”.
“She’s really made a career choice that just didn’t fit,” Riddell said.
“She’s lost everything. She’s going to have to start again when all this is over.”
Judge Yelavich said she accepted that Smith passed information to the gang member “because you wanted to obtain a closer relationship with him”.
“You explained falling in love with, quote, ‘This gangster dude’.”
The disclosure of an informant’s name to a known gang member was “particularly serious”, the judge said.
So was the breach of trust, given she was a sworn police officer at the time.
Judge Yelavich set a starting point of three years in prison, before adding three months for the cocaine charge.
She then gave discounts for Smith’s guilty pleas, previous good character and expressions of remorse.
The judge said it was “entirely speculative” as to whether Smith would suffer difficulties in prison, before sentencing the disgraced former officer to the two years and three months’ jail time.
Deputy Police Commissioner Jill Rogers said police had no tolerance for corruption and would use “all available criminal and employment avenues to hold any such behaviour accountable”.
“This case serves as a reminder about the risks that insider threats pose to our colleagues and wider organisation.
“Maintaining the trust and confidence of the public is of upmost importance and we will continue to work hard to uphold the standards expected of our staff.”
Lane Nichols is Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.
Jared Savage covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006 and has won a dozen journalism awards in that time, including twice being named Reporter of the Year. He is also the author of Gangland, Gangster’s Paradise and Underworld.