The Police Minister says he's pleased former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming's pleaded guilty to having child exploitation and bestiality images on work devices.
He admitted to three representative charges in Wellington District Court this afternoon.
Court documents reveal the 52-year-old made thousands of Google searches, many seeking AI-generated or cartoon images.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell says this result shows no-one's above the law - but this behaviour reflects poorly on the police.
"For every one officer - and it's a big organisation, so you're always going to have some people that don't uphold the standards. But most of our police officers do, they're out there every day, they're doing tens of thousands of positive acts."
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Episode Transcript
Cutting through the noise to get the facts. It's Heather
duper c Ellen drive with one New Zealand coverage like
no one else news talks.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
They'd be nineteen past five now. Jeff mc skimming has
pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual exploitation in bestiality images
on his work devices. He's, obviously the former Deputy Police Commissioner,
admitted three charges of possessing the objection of w winterial
today in the Wellington District Course. He actually faced eight
charges but it's been reduced. He's going to be sentenced
next month on the seventeenth. Mark Mitchell is the police Minister.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Hi Mitch, Hi, Heather.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Are you relieved this is over?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah? I'm very pleased at Tom he's pleaded guilty, you know,
and it allows people to have some closure on this.
I mean, it was just it was abhorrent behavior and
this is without the right This is definitely the right
result and it just underlines that no one is above
the law.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Did you know about this before you appointed the police
commissioner which he was in the running for.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
So I'm not going to go into too much detailer
than to say this to you, is that on becoming police,
I had some real challenges to deal with. JIVAM skimming
was one of them, and I'm still working through some
of those challenges.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
What do you mean by that, Well.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I'm not going to go I'm not going to elaborate
and go into it anymore than say that simple thing. Well,
they're not simple things. Actually, they're really important things like
taking our recruit course from sixteen weeks back to twenty weeks.
Police are moving away from an overuse of discretion. You
know that a previous government that had a heavy focus
on DEI and understanding police delivery, which was basically calling
(01:31):
the service racist and biased. All the focus in the
wrong places and what you end up happening as you
end up happening, this this sort of thing happening where
there's a loss of integrity and a degradation of standards.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Okay, do you think this has caused reputational damage to
the police.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Unfortunately, it probably has, And I find that's very frustrating
because for every one officer, and it's a big organization,
and so you always going to have some people that
don't uphold the standards, but most of our police officers do.
They're out there every day, they're doing tens of thousands
of positive acts. I've been to two awards ceremonies of
the last week. Most of the awards handed out to
(02:13):
police officers who have saved members of the public's public lives,
and they are all let down. And no one feels
more let down when you get a rogue police officer
that behaves like this than our front line. And they
deserve our admiration, they deserve our respect, and they deserve
our support. And when we do identify a bad apple
in the barrel, then it's just got to be dealt
(02:34):
with quickly.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Does he get to keep his police pension or any
kind of perks from having been an officer?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Look, I don't know that. I'd have to check that
and come back to you, but all I can say
to you is that as soon as I became aware
of this, you know that the details of some of
the behavior, then I moved quickly to suspension. And then
you saw that had he not resigned, it was very
clear that he was going to be moved on by.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
US, Mitch, and there was an order obviously that was done.
This was after he was busted doing this. Other officers
also have some material on their phones. How many more?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah, because we've got a commissioner now that's been appointed
by us that is beck focused.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
On how many are been talking about Well.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I'm not going to divide that that's an operational metaphor
the commissioner talk to not for me, but but I
just underline the fact that both the Commissioner and myself
have been very clear that we have got a big
focus on standards and integrity. They are non negotiable and
they're critically important for any organization, but in particular an
organization like the police.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Mitch, thank you so much for your time. Make Matchull
Police Minister.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drave. Listen live to
news Talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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