The Sunday Long Read- Sex, Police and Trust
16 November 2025
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The scandal surrounding former New Zealand Deputy Commissioner Javon McSkimming and the release of an Independent Police Authority report revealing serious failures by police senior police officers in handling allegations against him, dominated the news last week.
In today’s post I place this latest scandal in context with other such police scandals , canvas why such cases of police misconduct keep happening, and suggest what might be done to prevent them from reoccurring.
Bad Apples?
But before I begin, I want to say that over the years I have had the privilege of working with some incredibly hard-working ,intelligent, and dedicated police officers, and I have no doubt that the majority of frontline police try do their difficult job with fairness.
I also know that many of them will be appalled at what has happened because such scandals erode the public confidence and trust they need to be able to solve serious crimes and keep our communities safe.
That said, there is a tendency at such times for replacement administrations, or Ministers of Police, to talk about “bad apples” – that the system is fine, it’s just that an individual went rogue. But in this post I will argue that the New Zealand Police barrel has been morally contaminated for a long time, and what is truly amazing is that the great majority of police are, and have been, rot resistant.
Indeed the current police misconduct would not have seen the public light of day if it hadn’t been for a couple of good police officers calling out the bad behaviour of their bosses.
The McSkimming Scandal
Last week the IPCA released a damning report into the police handling of complaints against Jevon McSkimming which you can read in full here:
What it boils down to is that a police officer was allowed to rise to the rank of Assistant Police Commissioner who used his police computer to watch child pornography and bestiality, who had sex with a former police worker ( but not a police officer) - acts which she claims were not consensual, and that the affair that was not properly investigated because his fellow senior police colleagues, either simply turned a blind eye or took his version of events at face value.
Coster and McSkimming at a parliamentary hearing.
While there has been a lot of political hand-wringing since McSkimming’s porn conviction and the release of the IPCA report about how such a thing could happen, misconduct in the police, particularly where it involves the sexual behaviour of officers and efforts by senior police to stop details of such misconduct becoming public, is not new.
The Murder of Luana Williams
Luana Laverene Williams - murder victim
Luana Williams was 25 years old when she disappeared from her home in Munro Street Tauranga, on the evening of June the 5th 1986.
Her partner, Stephen Prole, said he returned home at 4 a.m. to find her missing. The house was open, the lights were on, and Luana’s half-finished drink and cigarettes were on the table, and all of her personal possessions were still in the house, but it wasn’t until three months after her disappearance that the police began treating her case as a homicide.
With the help of Luana’s family I made an episode of The Investigator in 2010 which exposed some serious flaws in the police investigation, not the least of which was that one of the investigating officers – Brad Shipton is likely to have not only known Luana prior to his being assigned to investigate her murder, but is also likely to have had sex with her in the years prior to her disappearance. He denied both allegations when they were put to him..
Disgraced Detective Brad Shipton
I say “likely”,however, because shortly after the documentary went to air in 2011 a former Arohata prison officer, Janey Bowen, contacted me and subsequently signed an affidavit stating that while Luana was serving her sentence for drug dealing in 1983 Detective Brad Shipton had visited the Women’s Prison to meet up with a prison officer with whom he was apparently having an affair.
Janey stated in her affidavit, that when Luana saw Shipton walking within the prison confines she became very agitated, and when Janey asked her what was wrong Luana confided in her that she had performed sexual favours for Shipton in return for him and another detective turning a blind eye to drug sales and use.
I do not know if the police followed up on Janey’s affidavit but I do remember the attitude of one of the detectives as I tabled it with them, who dismissively said “This woman’s got a remarkable memory..” Which is the kind of, what I call, the “protecting the brand” response to allegations that I will shortly argue derives from another former Police Commissioner - Bob Walton and his cover up of the police wrong doing during their investigation into the Crewe Murders in 1971.
By the time my documentary on the murder of Luana Williams went to air, Shipton’s credibility had already been damaged when he was convicted and imprisoned for his role in a 1989 gang rape of a 20 year old Mt Manganui woman, along with another police officer Bob Schollum and businessman Peter McNamara.
Former Police officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum in the dock
The victim had been socializing at a pub and accepted an offer from Shipton, Schollum, and McNamara for a ride home. Instead of taking her home however they drove her to a secluded property owned by Shipton’s parents. There, in a caravan, the three men violently and repeatedly raped her. The attack was brutal and involved the use of objects.
The men dropped the victim off near her home. She reported the rape to the police the next day. However, as the accused were fellow police officers, the initial investigation was widely criticized as being inadequate and designed to protect them. The victim was disbelieved and the case was dropped, leaving her to suffer in silence for over a decade.
However the case was re-opened in the early 2000s as part of a major police investigation into historical sex crimes by police officers in the Rotorua and Bay of Plenty area, and in 2005 Brad Shipton, Bob Schollum, and Peter McNamara stood trial in the High Court at Auckland. All three were convicted on one charge of abduction and one of rape. Shipton and Schollum received prison sentences of 8 years and McNamara got 6 years .
It’s important to draw the distinction between those convictions were separate from the allegations made by Louise Nicholas. In her case, Shipton and Schollum were tried in 2006 but were acquitted along with then Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards.
Louise alleged that in 1986, when she was 18 years old, she was repeatedly raped over a period of weeks by Rickards, Shipton, and Schollum at a house in Rotorua. She stated the assaults involved the use of police batons.
When she first complained in the 1980s, the police investigation was led by the former head of the Rotorua CIB John Dewar, who was later found to have conducted it improperly and was jailed for 4½ years for trying to cover up the alleged sexual offending.
John Dewar (pictured) was also recently reported as having been found guilty on six charges of theft by a person in a special relationship and obtaining by deception.
As part of “Operation Austin,” the case was re-investigated and Rickards, Shipton, and Schollum stood trial in the High Court at Auckland in 2006. All three were acquitted with the defense successfully arguing that the sexual encounters had been consensual, playing into the “sexually adventurous” stereotype that had been used to discredit Nicholas years earlier. The jury did not hear about Shipton and Schollum’s prior convictions for the 1989 pack rape, as it was deemed prejudicial.
Despite being acquitted Rickards resigned from the New Zealand Police in February 2007, ending his 28-year career.
The public outrage and loss of confidence in the police led to the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct led by Dame Margaret Bazley which found a legacy of sexist culture within the police, a tendency to “close ranks,” and systemic failures in the way complaints against officers were investigated.
Bazley’s investigation identified “an entrenched culture where loyalty among officers often overrode integrity and professional standards”. This “code of silence” protected misconduct and made it difficult to hold officers accountable.
There was also evidence, she found, of a culture that tolerated sexist, racist, and homophobic attitudes. The report found instances of officers socializing with criminals and engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct, including with complainants and witnesses.
The police system for investigating complaints of sexual assault was found to be “seriously deficient.”Common failures included:
Not believing victims.
Failing to properly collect evidence.
Deliberately undermining complainants’ credibility.
In some cases, actively discouraging victims from proceeding with their complaints.
All of which has uncomfortable echoes in the IPCA Review of the recent McSkimming case.
Blazey found the police internal disciplinary system was ineffective at addressing serious misconduct with insufficient checks and balances on officer behaviour.
Her report made a number of recommendations for reform and some changes were introduced that included victim -centred training for officers investigating sexual assaults featuring trauma-informed interviewing techniques, and improved evidence collection.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) were given power and resources to investigate public complaints against police and extensive internal programs aimed at explicitly changing the organizational culture, emphasizing ethics, professionalism, and respect were set in place.
And yet, last week, saw a disgraced Assistant Police Commissioner protected by his colleagues who believed his story over that of his alleged victim.
After Shipton and Schollum and the Blazey Report how could this happen?
The Crewe Murders- and Police Commissioner Bob Walton
Police Commissioner Bob Walton
I think part of the answer is to be found in the legacy of what I call the “brand preservation decision” by former Police Commissioner Bob Walton after the 1980 Royal Commission of Inquiry into the police investigation and conviction of Arthur Allan Thomas for the murders of Jeannette and Harvey Crewe.
Harvey and Jeannette Crewe
Thomas had stood trial twice for the murder of the Pukekawa farming couple but had been subsequently pardoned by Prime Minister Robert Muldoon in 1979.
Arthur Allan Thomas
A year later The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Police Misconduct into the Thomas case ,chaired by Justice Sir Trevor Henry, found that a .22 cartridge case, which was a vital piece of physical evidence linking Thomas to the scene, had been planted by Detective Inspector Bruce Hutton and Detective Len Hutton .
Detective Inspector Bruce Hutton accused of planting evidence
In 2012 when I was searching through the boxes of evidence held on the case in The National Library in Wellington, I came across a document carrying the police headquarters logo which revealed that the day before the 1980 Royal Commission’s report was to be publicly released the police were given a heads up that it had found that Hutton and Johnston had planted evidence.
So Police Commissioner Bob Walton and all the Assistant Commissioners met at Police Headquarters 180 Molesworth Street in Wellington that evening to discuss the Commission’s finding and discussed whether or not Hutton and Johnston should be charged with perverting the course of justice and perjury.
The Assistant Commissioners were divided. Some said that Hutton and Johnston needed to stand trial, others were against prosecuting the two former officers.
At the conclusion of the meeting Walton declared that Hutton and Johnston would not be prosecuted as “the integrity of the police had already suffered enough damage.”
In other words Walton deemed the public image of the police was more important than the pursuit of justice - and it is from that moment, I suggest, that the culture of keeping wrong doing in- house as much as possible became an unofficial police norm.
Fast Forward To More Recent Times
When you look into the McSkimming case you see that the culture of looking after your mates and not washing police dirty laundry in public, is something is as much part of police culture today as it when Dame Margaret Bazley released her report into Police conduct in 2007 which found a legacy of sexist culture within the police, a tendency to “close ranks,”
Why Does It Still Happen?
My own view is that the process of the socialisation, or rather re-socialisation that starts when new recruits are admitted for police training , is an area the police need to re-examine. As part of the training they learn the bonding message that, yes they are there to serve the public good but to do that they must also look out for each other – to mind your buddy’s back because one day they will mind yours.
There is of course a very practical strength in that socialisation, but there is also the danger that when your buddy does something wrong you might not speak up. Turn a blind eye. Let it slide as a one off aberration – after all police are human. We expect them to be morally perfect but of course, like all of us, they have weaknesses as well as strengths.
The Solution?
So what might be done to break this seemingly persistent culture of turning a blind eye to, and cover up of, misconduct within the police?
I can think of at least three.
The first would be to teach situation ethics as part of the initial police training course - to learn that being there for your mates does not include turning a blind eye to wrong doing.
The second would be to give the IPCA the power to prosecute. As things stand they can only recommend to the police that they take action.
The third would be to break the buddy chain by appointing the police commissioner from outside the police. In other words, by making the top administrative police job an external appointment for a fixed term you’d have a wired- in civilian watchdog with no affliations with officers who had come up through the ranks.
This suggestion is not as radical as you might suppose.
When unpopular Police Commissioner Eric Compton (pictured) was pushed into taking early retirement in April of 1955 (after the Kennedy Inquiry into his questionable decisions and personal finances ref: NZ Law Journal No18 7 October 1980) he was replaced by an external civilian administrator - the then Secretary for Justice Samuel Barnett who was appointed as a “Controller-General” to oversee the police for the next three years until December of 1958 when the reformist Willis Brown was eventually appointed Police Commissioner.
So perhaps a separation of powers might also be part of the solution. An administrative commissioner from outside the police plus a career police officer in charge of operations in the top jobs.
We set very high standards for our police and rightly so. But they are human, they can make mistakes and there is always the risk that an officer will use their power and position or call in favours to shield wrong doing.
By and large we can trust our police because, again by and large, they are good people. However, what has been clear for a long time is that serious misconduct by senior officers can happen, and so we need to build a more transparent and accountable system .
I understand the government is talking about establishing an Inspector-General of Police who would have oversight of senior police. I’ll wait to see what that entails, but I have to say the simplest, most immediate solution to keeping police up to the moral mark, would be to give the Independent Police Complaints the power not just to investigate, but to prosecute .
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Thanks Bryan, that was an excellent overview and such an obvious solution. Its appaling to me after all the cases you mentioned that this still isn't the situation.
Thank you for the in-depth analysis- going way back.