criminal investigation into McSkimming<\/a>, began in October last year.<\/p>\nIt was during that investigation that police found the objectionable material on his work devices and a second criminal investigation began.<\/p>\n
It was Reeves who told the Independent Police Conduct Authority that the handling of the allegations prior to her involvement in the case was \u201cappalling\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have just not followed policy whatsoever and it doesn\u2019t take a rocket scientist \u2026 Jevon has tried to get rid of this by making a complaint and \u2026 making [Ms Z] the villain, when in actual fact what he perhaps should have done was gone: \u2018Can someone look at this and investigate it and get it cleared up? Because I\u2019ve got designs on the future, and I want my integrity intact, so I welcome an investigation. Let\u2019s get it cleared up, get it out of the way\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you know what\u2019s the worst thing \u2013 if you make a mistake \u2026 the only worse thing that you can do is then cover it up \u2026 You can paint all sorts of nice words of this \u2026 but to an outsider looking in, and \u2026 I mean even me, this looks like a cover-up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The IPCA acknowledged the \u201cextraordinarily difficult environment\u201d in which Reeves was working when she was tasked under Operation Herb.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe commend her courage in insisting on the need to speak to the complainant, Ms Z, when speaking with Deputy Commissioner Kura and Assistant Commissioner A.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an experienced adult sexual assault investigator, she has shown insight into what a policy-compliant investigation should look like, and the reasons why her initial investigation should have looked no different.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was also able to identify what many senior officers were not – that a traumatised victim who has been told she will not be listened to if she tries to approach Police, may not present as a regular victim \u2018should\u2019 and that the emails Ms Z was sending may have reflected the desperation of someone emailing into the \u2018abyss\u2019, having not been heard for several years prior.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officer M<\/p>\n
The IPCA said had it not been for the actions of another police officer, Officer M, it was \u201cconceivable that Ms Z\u2019s complaint may never have been heard, and the IPCA may never have been made aware of the concerning developments during 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n
RNZ understands Officer M is Detective Superintendent Kylie Schaare, the director of Integrity and Conduct.<\/p>\n
She told the IPCA that on September 16 last year, she received a call from then Police Commissioner Andrew Coster asking if she knew of any \u201copen investigations\u201d into McSkimming.<\/p>\n
She believed the call was prompted by McSkimming\u2019s application for Commissioner. She told Coster she would check the NZ Police Professional Conduct database.<\/p>\n
She told the IPCA she saw a \u201chuge organisational risk\u201d that there was something \u201csitting outside our system\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201c… It didn\u2019t appear that we\u2019d actually dealt with that at all following our usual process, and that I was now aware that the woman had been arrested, pleaded not guilty and I said \u2018look, with\u2026my legal experience \u2026 any defence lawyer worth their salt is going to say that \u2026 this woman has acted the way she has because she\u2019s been trying to raise these concerns for a significant period of time against Police and no one\u2019s listened to her and no one\u2019s followed usual process\u2019 so I said: \u2018That\u2019s all going to come out \u2026 That\u2019s a matter of risk to the police, it\u2019s a risk to you as Commissioner\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"RNZ]()
RNZ understands Officer M is Detective Superintendent Kylie Schaare. Photo \/ RNZ, Nathan McKinnon<\/p>\n
Following the call she texted Coster and said there were no \u201copen complaints\u201d that were visible in the database.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe complaints re the woman that you\u2019ve referenced have not been through our usual complaint processes though, and there is no record of the complaints or what has been done re them. I do see this as a risk to the New Zealand Police and Jevon, particularly if this issue arises again down the track.\u201d<\/p>\n
She suggested the information around the complaint and what had been done was provided to either her or the Operations Manager of Integrity and Conduct to record in the database.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am conscious with a not guilty plea entered on the charges the woman is facing, the complaints could come to light through the court process as part of the defence disclosure request or the woman may complain again in the future, particularly if Jevon is in the media. It would open up criticism if there is nothing recorded in the usual manner following our complaint processes. IPCA are also asking why this has bypassed our usual complaint processes. They were going to contact Tania directly to discuss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coster replied he understood from Kura\u2019s briefing that the \u201cintent\u201d was to record it as Schaare suggested but was \u201cunsure why this has not yet occurred\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be clear, I don\u2019t think there was ever a complaint. The woman never identified herself to us. However, through Jevon\u2019s transparency on it we knew who she was and proactively approached her. However, there was still no complaint forthcoming to back up her various email allegations sent from a variety of email addresses with made-up names. I appreciate your follow up on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schaare later contacted the IPCA over concerns she had.<\/p>\n
On October 8 she had a meeting with the authority and expressed the nature of her concerns.<\/p>\n
On October 9 the Public Service Commission contacted the IPCA and asked if there were any complaints relating to the applicants for Commissioner.<\/p>\n
The following day the IPCA Chair emailed Coster asking that police refer any complaints regarding McSkimming to them.<\/p>\n
It was then that Ms Z\u2019s complaint was referred by Officer M. That same day Schaare emailed Deputy Commissioner PLC and said she had opened a file on the database. She had also been informed that Ms Z had contacted Reeves and was considering making a complaint.<\/p>\n
The IPCA informed police on October 14 they had categorised the matter as Category A, an independent investigation.<\/p>\n
Schaare then got a call from Deputy Commissioner PLC who said Coster was not happy about the IPCA\u2019s involvement.<\/p>\n
The IPCA said Schaare raised her concerns both within her own internal chain of command and with the IPCA from an early stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she felt her concerns were not being heeded, she sought our support in elevating the matter. We commend her moral courage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officer O<\/p>\n
A report by the joint Police\/Health Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (FTAC) in February 2024 identified that emails allegedly sent by the woman raised potential criminal and Police Code of Conduct concerns relating to McSkimming and recommended referring them to the National Integrity Unit and IPCA with a view to possible investigation.<\/p>\n
The IPCA acknowledged the efforts of FTAC\u2019s Officer O, who when being assigned with looking through the emails was able to \u201cidentify, and draw to the attention of senior officers, allegations of both criminal offending and breaches of the Police Code of Conduct\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough his efforts, his supervisor, Officer N, was then able to brief senior officers, including Deputy Commissioner Kura and Officer B, on the need to look at the matter from two different perspectives \u2013 action to stop the emails, and an investigation into their veracity.<\/p>\n
\u201cHad FTAC\u2019s advice been heeded in February, many of the issues raised in this report would have been avoided, and a more balanced consideration of the respective interests of Deputy Commissioner McSkimming and Ms Z may have been adopted.\u201d<\/p>\n
On October 30, two days before the National Integrity Unit had their first \u201cforensic interview\u201d of Ms Z, Coster called a meeting. At the meeting was Kura, Deputy Commissioner PLC, the Director, Police Legal Services, Schaare and Officer K of the NIU.<\/p>\n
Coster then proposed a \u201cspecial national assessment team\u201d to look into the appropriate investigative pathway in relation to Ms Z\u2019s complaint. He suggested the team consist of himself and Kura.<\/p>\n
At the meeting the director of police legal services said it was not appropriate, given the conflicts of interest, for Coster and Kura to be involved in decisions on criminality.<\/p>\n
The IPCA commended the director for \u201cdirectly standing up to Commissioner Coster\u201d in the meetings \u201cto ensure the new investigation structure was robust and free from actual or perceived conflicts of interest\u201d.<\/p>\n
-RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Officer D When former Deputy Police Commissioner Tania Kura finally decided to explore the former unsworn staffer\u2019s allegations,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[88102,89976,17309,33093,33094,111,43,139,69,675,5843,15768,223,1299],"class_list":["post-130321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-cops","tag-coverup","tag-exposed","tag-jevon","tag-mcskimming","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-police","tag-senior","tag-sherwood","tag-the","tag-who"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}