Kerre Woodham: The McSkimming cover-up is appalling

The revelation that the Deputy Commissioner of Police Jevon McSkimming was a predatory pervert was one thing. To find out that our most senior police officers were complicit in not only covering up his inappropriate behaviour, but then prosecuting, persecuting his victim is quite frankly horrifying.  

I knew, many of you knew, Andrew Coster was an ineffectual toadying eunuch. Does anyone remember his one and only hour in the studio when he spoke in slogans and was completely incomprehensible? I couldn't have been more delighted when Police Minister Mark Mitchell moved him on and replaced him with a proper cop, Richard Chambers.  

The fact that Jevon McSkimming came so close to the top job defies belief, given the accusations swirling around him. And he only came so close to the top job because Coster, Kura, de Wattignar, and Basham needed him to be in the top job to hide their moral and professional failures.  

This is absolutely appalling. McSkimming is a sick pervert. He needs help, professional help. The rest of them were just motivated by saving their sorry skins and were willing to throw a vulnerable young woman to the wolves to allow her to be prosecuted to save themselves. The young woman in question sent multiple emails to ministers, MPs, the media, she wrote on LinkedIn, she phoned the police complaints line. She might have appeared to be obsessive, but nothing makes a woman more unhinged than being gaslit, than being ganged up on, than being not believed.  

You can imagine McSkimming – ‘mate, she's a bunny boiler. Yeah, crazy’. If they were any sort of cops, any sort of people, they would know that is manipulation 101. Dismiss her as a lunatic. You know, confess, yes, what was I thinking? I was 40, she was 21. I shouldn't have had the affair, but, you know, I ended it and saw the error of my ways. And now she's trying to ruin my career. You've got to save me. You've got to help me. And they did. 

Not one of those former top cops, the very top cops in the country, ever thought to have a chat to her, or to get one of their staff to have a chat to her, to hear her side of the story. Did they not find it odd that McSkimming didn't say, look, talk to her, you'll see for yourself? No. Not only did they not do anything, they prosecuted her. They put her through hell.  

It's appalling, it's horrifying, it adds grist to Tamatha Paul’s anti-police mill. Richard Chambers has a hell of a job ahead of him in rebuilding faith in the Police, and he knows that.  

“My job right now is to ensure that I take on board all the recommendations and work swiftly to put everything in place to ensure that this never happens again.  

“And, you know, in terms of other stuff out there, well, I only know what I know. I'm not aware of anything else, and God, I hope that's not the case because, you know, the people of New Zealand, when they reach out to New Zealand Police, deserve the best possible service they can get, and they need to be taken seriously.  

“And I've been very clear about that since I took over as the Commissioner. Our priority is supporting the frontline staff of my organisation who do this work day and night. And, and I'm really proud of that. And, you know, my focus now will be putting a new leadership team in place, and they will be working with me to help steer New Zealand Police, in the right direction and ensure that these appalling situations never happen again.” 

Oh, hello 2007. Police Commissioner Howard Broad, after the Royal Commission of Inquiry, after the ghastly Scholllum Shipton cover-up there.  

“I will now ask all serving members to join with me to make the changes necessary to prevent this sort of behaviour ever happening again. The work's already started. We're moving quickly on this. A draft code's been fully consulted. There'll be a reform of the 1958 Police Act”.  At the heart of the issues looked at by the Commission of Inquiry has been abuses of power. Yes, policies, processes, and sanctions can only go so far. That's quite right. There were processes in place that were circumvented by these abusers. Abusers of the woman and abusers of power. What happens to people that they become like this? Coster's on the record as saying he entered the police because of his Christian faith, his Christian duty to serve.  

I feel for the good, honest men and women wearing the blue uniform who turn up to work every day trying to make New Zealand a better, safer community. They have been so badly let down by their bosses. But a number of them knew how hopeless Coster was. The number of texts and emails I received over the years that he was Commissioner were extraordinary. I'm not sure if they knew the depths to which he would go to save his skin and his salary, but they knew he was a wrong'un. They had a copper's nose to sniff out when something was wrong.  

I would love to hear from you on this one. I still trust the Police. I still back the Police. My faith in the Police hierarchy was shaken with Coster in the top role, and it's been absolutely rocked with the revelations of yesterday. With Richard Chambers as Commissioner, the ship has been righted. The oversight being introduced will help ensure corrupt officials won't be able to circumvent the processes designed to prevent and detect wrongdoing. But by bloody crikey, the Police will not be able to endure another scandal like this one, that's for sure. 

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