Rogers, who joined the police in 1986, used a “police-issued device” to do internet searches for “pornographic and sexualised material”.
These searches were between August 2023 and October 2025 and a review found that nine images shown in the searches were objectionable.
Rogers, who worked at the Tāmaki Makaurau District Command Centre, googled sexualised terms and scrolled through the thumbnail images.
The searches happened over “an extended period” of time, including while he was on duty.
The summary said during the offending Rogers searched “reddit milf kneeling” and the results returned a “high number” of legal pornographic images.
However, one of the images shown as a result of that search showed a naked girl, aged between 14 and 17, kneeling.
Then in 2023, he searched “reddit anature [sic] teen undress”, which resulted in a high number of legal porn, with one picture of a naked girl aged 14 to 17 lying with her legs apart.
Other searches between 2023 and 2025 included “nip slip drunk”, “nude teen” and “tiny teen nude”, which all resulted in some images of naked girls appearing to be aged 14-17.
Another search, “reddit teen girl choked nude”, showed a naked underaged girl “restrained” with a collar, while “drenk teen toopless” showed two naked girls with their arms around each other.
The facts said Rogers was first spoken to about this in October last year during a police search of his home, where he acknowledged using his work devices for personal searches.
The 59-year-old appeared in the Manukau District Court this morning, where he admitted a representative charge of possessing an objectionable publication.
Rogers had faced nine charges but Crown lawyer Kristy Li said the remaining charges would be withdrawn at sentencing.
Former Deputy Police Commissioner McSkimming was sentenced to nine months’ home detention in December after admitting three representative charges of possessing objectionable publications, namely child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.
Police announced in June they were prosecuting three “constabulary staff” for multiple counts of possessing an objectionable publication. Rogers was one of the three.
“Prosecution of our own staff is a serious but important step to take as it recognises the significance of the alleged offending that has been identified,” Deputy Commissioner Tim Anderson said at the time.
A second Auckland police officer, whose identity is suppressed, was scheduled to appear in the same court this afternoon. However, the Herald understands his matter has been adjourned until later this month.
The third officer, of Wellington, appeared in court in June and his identity also remains secret.
The three officers have been stood down from duties.
Rogers was remanded at large and will appear in October for sentencing. A pre-sentence report was ordered.
His lawyer Todd Simmonds, KC, indicated Rogers may apply for a discharge without conviction.
In June, Anderson said the charges against the three officers arose after investigations in a “rapid review” of police information security controls.
He said the police National Integrity Unit ran the investigations and screened a “significant volume” of web activity.
By then police had investigated 22 cases, he said, and 12 were resolved internally. Four people had resigned in the process.
“It is important we now let these matters progress to the court process, which limits the level of information we can provide at this point,” Anderson said.
Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and previously worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro Magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting. She’s currently based in Auckland covering justice-related stories.
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