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Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Bob Edlin: Cops can move fast when armed with radar gear......


Cops can move fast when armed with radar gear, but become plods when it comes to bullying allegations

If the cops have been tardy responding to your complaint about an assault, a burglary, or what-have-you, perhaps it’s because they are busy investigating allegations against fellow cops.

The big one was the Jevon McSkimming case, involving the former Deputy Commissioner wo was found with objectionable material on work devices.

On second thoughts, that case perhaps illustrates why it might not be smart to lay a complaint.

An Independent Police Conduct Authority report found senior leaders failed to act on abuse allegations against McSkimming, but a woman was prosecuted for reporting him.

On the other hand, the McSkimming case resulted in a “rapid review” of police IT systems. This led to us learning more than 20 staff were under investigation for misusing police devices, including accessing inappropriate content.

Police launched the review in June last year.

Stuff reported:

Acting deputy commissioner Jill Rogers said “about 20” cases of misuse and inappropriate content were found.

“Employment processes are underway in some of these cases while others are still at the preliminary stages of investigation,” she said.


But “rapid reviews” are atypical, it seems.

PoO noted news at the weekend that:

A senior police employee is still being investigated over allegations including bullying nearly three years after the first complaint was laid.

It comes after RNZ earlier revealed a senior police officer was facing an employment investigation relating to a complaint that was laid nearly a year ago.

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers earlier said he has previously expressed concerns about matters involving employees taking too long to investigate and set an expectation that employment matters be resolved within 60 days.


The Independent Police Conduct Authority’s manager of assurance, Andrew MacNeill, confirmed there were “several complaints” regarding the senior police employee about bullying and “some related matters”.

“We received the initial complaint in September 2023. We categorised the original matter as an independent investigation, but our focus has been on overseeing the Police investigation.

“We are also overseeing a second Police investigation arising from further complaints received in September 2025. We will complete a final review at the conclusion of the Police investigations.”


A police spokesperson confirmed police were investigating claims made about a District-based manager.

“Police hope to resolve the matters in the next few weeks.”

Chambers had previously told RNZ that police employment matters must be resolved within 60 days, but criminal matters involving staff may take slightly longer.

But don’t count on them taking that long to let you know you were driving too fast on State Highway One – or on any other road where they have armed themselves with radar gadgetry to crack down on crime.

Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.

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