Former police commissioner Andrew Coster has quit his new role at the Social Investment Agency in the wake of the Jevon McSkimming scandal.
Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche confirmed the news this afternoon.
“I respect Mr Coster’s decision. It was the right thing to do,” Sir Brian said.
He resigned just 12 months into a five-year term.
Read: Andrew Coster’s full statement on his resignation
Coster has been under fire since the release of a damning IPCA report, in which the authority said it found “serious misconduct” among the upper echelons of police during the handling of former deputy police commissioner McSkimming.
“I also acknowledge that the IPCA found no evidence of corruption or cover-up when undertaking their review,” Sir Brian said.
Over several years, the complainant wrote 300 emails about the offences of Jevon McSkimming, only to be ignored and then persecuted. (Source: 1News)
“While the IPCA found serious leadership failures occurred, there was no evidence of senior officers consciously doing the wrong thing or setting out to undermine the integrity of the organisation.
“What is clear, however, is that there was significant evidence of failures within the organisation that Mr Coster was then accountable for. Systems, processes, delegations and behaviours that you would expect to be embedded were not followed.”
Speaking for Coster, Sir Brian said he acknowledged “with hindsight that he should have and could have done better, and as evidenced by his decision, has taken accountability.”
He added that Coster made a “significant contribution” to the operations of the agency as the organisation’s chief executive.
“He has performed very well with a strong motivation to both change and strengthen the way social investment and improved outcomes for those in need are achieved.”
In a statement, Coster said he took “full responsibility for the shortcomings identified in the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s review”.
“I regret the impact on the young woman at the centre of this matter and sincerely apologise to her for the distress caused. I accept that I was too ready to trust and accept at face value Deputy Commissioner McSkimming’s disclosure and explanations to me. I should have been faster and more thorough in looking into the matter.”
He said he acted in good faith, but admits he got things wrong.
“I want to apologise to all members of the NZ Police. They work hard every day to keep our communities safe. I know they have been adversely affected by these events.”
Coster was on an estimated salary of around half a million dollars a year.
He has been under fire since the release of a damning IPCA report, which the authority said found “serious misconduct” among the upper echelons of police in the handling of former deputy police commissioner McSkimming.
The former commissioner and other senior police dismissed repeated complaints from a young woman about a sexual relationship with McSkimming, spanning multiple years.
Her complaints included allegations of sexual interaction without consent, threats to use an intimate visual recording, and misuse of a police credit card and police property to further a sexual relationship.
Neither Coster nor McSkimming disclosed the allegations to the Public Service Commission when McSkimming was going through the appointment process for his deputy commissioner role in early 2023, according to the IPCA’s report.
The watchdog said a 2024 investigation into the woman’s claims was not properly conducted. It said it was only notified of the allegations in October 2024.
Former top cop Andrew Coster quits govt role amid McSkimming fallout – Watch on TVNZ+
Coster had contacted the IPCA, raising concerns that its inquiries could “increase Jevon’s victimisation” and harm his chances during the appointment process for the top commissioner job.
Coster then convened a meeting with other key players to “ensure natural justice” for McSkimming and to bring the investigation to a “rapid and premature conclusion”.
‘Very invested’
One staffer told the IPCA: “It was quite clear that [Coster] was very invested in Jevon becoming the next Commissioner.”
The IPCA report said the senior officers involved held “an entrenched view” that McSkimming was a victim rather than an offender and were “unduly preoccupied” with protecting his future career prospects.
McSkimming would later be arrested and subsequently pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.
Coster was appointed as police commissioner in early March 2020 and was the youngest in the role in the force’s history, aged 44. Then-prime minister Jacinda Ardern commended Coster’s “positivity, inclusion and integrity”.
The man who replaced Coster as Police Commissioner, Richard Chambers, said the events and findings laid out in the IPCA report “made for appalling reading and showed a total lack of leadership and integrity at the highest levels of police”.
Andrew Coster was interviewed by Q+A’s Jack Tame in October 2024. (Source: 1News)
He added: “The usual integrity checks and balances were bypassed, there was interference from the highest levels, and the ambitions of a senior police officer were put above the interests of a vulnerable woman.”
The Social Investment Agency, which Coster headed, is a new government department overseen by Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis After reading the critical IPCA report, Willis said she was “shocked and appalled” by the findings.
She requested Coster’s employer, the Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche, to look into the former police commissioner’s appointment to the Social Investment Agency.
