“As an employer, police have done an appalling job of supporting me through something that has been the worst experience of my life.”
Brazier’s time at the police was instead acknowledged in a letter she received in the mail days later.
“I got posted my certificate of service. It just turned up in the post,” she said. “Nobody from an executive level has taken care to look out for me as a person.”
In response to questions put to Police Commissioner Richard Chambers, Deputy Commissioner Mike Pannett said he and Chambers didn’t know Brazier’s service certificate had been put in the post until being informed by the Herald.
Pannett said that wasn’t intended and planning for Brazier’s formal farewell was “underway” with Chambers wanting to attend and to present the certificate to Brazier in person.
Angela Brazier is the former head of the Firearms Safety Authority. She is scathing of her treatment in the aftermath of the Jevon McSkimming controversy and is giving “serious thought” to legal action. Photo / Corey Fleming
Despite Brazier’s last day being on April 11, Pannett said the police still hoped to proceed with the farewell.
“Unfortunately, but with the best of intentions, it appears the certificate of service was delivered to Ms Brazier rather than being held for the farewell event. That was not intended and is regretted,” Pannett told the Herald.
That explanation didn’t wash with Brazier, who said Chambers had signed the certificate and her understanding of the process was that an executive would have had to request it to be put in the post.
“I’m calling BS on the point,” she told the Herald. She said it showed a “level of disregard for me and the 22 solid years of service I provided”.
Brazier believes she was treated poorly because she was named in the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) review last November, which examined the police’s handling of a woman’s anonymous claims of sexual assault by former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.
McSkimming wasn’t charged over the allegations because of insufficient evidence.
The IPCA criticised Brazier because in 2024 she provided what it said was an “inadequate” reference for McSkimming prior to him getting the Deputy Commissioner job.
During the reference check, Brazier was asked if there was “anything you need to disclose about Jevon’s integrity, conduct or behaviour, either past or present, that could bring the NZ Police into disrepute”.
Brazier knew McSkimming had had an affair and was being “harassed” by the other party to the affair, and that he was being investigated, yet she is recorded as saying there was nothing she needed to disclose.
She told the IPCA she didn’t think her knowledge was relevant to Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission’s (PSC) question, given the affair was historical and it wasn’t interfering with his work or judgment – something the IPCA did not accept.
The Herald has been told Police Commissioner Richard Chambers wanted to attend Angela Brazier’s farewell event and sending her service certificate through the post wasn’t intended. Photo / RNZ, Mark Papalii
Brazier felt aggrieved by being personally implicated in the IPCA’s critical findings, given she had nothing to do with assessing the woman’s claims – or forming a view into whether a criminal investigation was required.
The police response to the woman’s allegations was the primary focus of the IPCA’s inquiries, she said.
On the basis of the IPCA’s adverse finding against Brazier, police commissioned Kirsty McDonald, KC, to carry out an employment investigation into her conduct.
That investigation cleared Brazier of misconduct. It said that given the knowledge she had while providing a reference check for McSkimming, it would have been “prudent” for her to disclose the fact he was receiving harassing emails and that there was a police investigation.
But it found there were shortcomings in the way the reference check was obtained, and that Brazier’s conduct did not bring the police into disrepute and therefore did not amount to misconduct.
Brazier is disappointed the police have never publicly stated she had been cleared of misconduct.
“When I was cleared, police weren’t interested or inclined to clear my name in the public arena at all. I feel angry and disappointed by that. I feel saddened by that,” she said.
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers (from left), the then Public Service Minister Judith Collins and Police Minister Mark Mitchell during their press conference after the damning IPCA report into the police’s handling of complaints against former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Pannett told the Herald that the police don’t normally disclose the outcomes of employment investigations, that the wellbeing of staff was a priority, and that Brazier was provided support from “a member of the wider executive”.
Brazier pushed back on that claim, saying she took three months’ medical leave because of burnout, stress and anxiety and “no one in my chain of command” checked in, something she found “appalling”.
Brazier believes the way she has been treated will “absolutely” impact her future employment prospects.
She said she feels “cast aside with a cloud of question marks above my head”. She told the Herald it’s going to make it difficult for her to secure another role in the public service.
Brazier believes division and “fear” within Police National Headquarters (PNHQ) is part of the reason she wasn’t supported.
She told the Herald an “A team” and “B team” emerged at senior levels after Richard Chambers got the top job in November 2024 – and she felt she swiftly fell into the latter.
Brazier believes the fact she had provided McSkimming – her manager – with a reference meant she fell out of favour with the boss, Chambers.
Angela Brazier worked for police for 22 years and was the executive director of the Firearms Safety Authority. Photo / Corey Fleming
Chambers was clear he wanted to refresh his team when he became Police Commissioner, and Brazier accepts that as fair. But she said the way Chambers executed the overhaul was harsh.
“I’ve seen a number of commissioners come and go over the years and they’ve always done similar things,” she said, but in her opinion it’s always been done “with a lot more dignity, grace and respect”.
She claimed division existed between those accepted as part of Chambers’ inner circle and those who were not.
“I think there’s a culture of fear … people don’t want to speak out. They don’t want to be seen to be talking to the people in the B team, because they may be put into the B team,” she said.
Brazier’s claims are supported by a source who works at PNHQ and spoke to the Herald on the condition of anonymity.
“There has been a consistent perception within parts of PNHQ of a divided leadership environment, which has impacted trust and confidence at the senior level,” they told the Herald.
The source said there was “a level of caution” about openly backing colleagues who might not be in Chambers’ inner circle because of the perceived risk in doing so.
Asked about Brazier’s departure, they said some in the executive didn’t even know she’d left the building.
“That … suggests a level of opacity that only reinforces concerns about how information and accountability are being managed.”
Angela Brazier is considering legal action following her departure from police after 22 years of service, and the way it was handled. Photo / Corey Fleming
In response to claims about division at PNHQ, Pannett said a merit-based process was followed to make new leadership appointments last year, and the feedback on the new team has been “positive and encouraging, both internally and externally”.
Brazier claims when Chambers was appointed commissioner, contractors working on firearms safety projects were axed, and she felt ignored and undervalued when challenging those plans with him.
Pannett said reducing consultant spending across the organisation – including at the Firearms Safety Authority (FSA) – was part of being fiscally responsible.
The employment investigation by McDonald raises questions about the IPCA’s conclusions regarding Brazier.
It found that while the IPCA criticised Brazier for not disclosing McSkimming’s affair and the fact he was being investigated, the authority never spoke to the PSC employee who interviewed her.
As McDonald discovered during her inquiries, the reference check with Brazier only lasted a few minutes, Brazier wasn’t given a heads-up the call was coming, and she was not encouraged to provide fulsome responses.
Kristy McDonald, KC, was asked to carry out an independent employment investigation into Angela Brazier and other police staff criticised in the IPCA’s report.
Brazier was also never asked directly about McSkimming’s affair – only whether there was anything about his “integrity, conduct or behaviour” that could “bring the police into disrepute”.
McDonald said in her report, obtained by the Herald, that the PSC employee treated the interview with Brazier as an “open and closed reference check” and there were “shortcomings” in the way it was conducted.
The employee was carrying out a “shortened version” of normal vetting because McSkimming had already undergone “extensive” vetting by the PSC in 2023 and had satisfied fit and proper person checks, McDonald’s report said.
“Ms Brazier’s conduct cannot be considered to amount to misconduct,” she said in her report.
“It’s relevant that the IPCA did not interview the PSC employee … before making its findings against Ms Brazier.”
Brazier told the Herald that – with hindsight – she could have volunteered the information, but said the affair was historical and she’d been told the PSC already knew about it.
McDonald’s report confirmed the PSC was already aware of the matter.
Brazier said given how the story has played out publicly, and how she and others have copped blame, she was speaking in order to provide balance for the public about what happened.
“I have done nothing wrong and it’s questioned my integrity and that leaves me feeling very uncomfortable,” she said.
She also rejected claims of a cover-up by the previous executive in a bid to protect McSkimming.
“I’ve known those individuals for many years and there’s no way that there would be any form of collusion or corruption.”
Former Deputy Commissioner Tania Kura, who was appointed alongside McSkimming, told the Herald last week Chambers and Police Minister Mark Mitchell threw her and other former police leaders “under the bus” in a manner that was both unprecedented and “unforgivable”.
Michael Morrah is a senior investigative reporter/team leader at the Herald. He won News Journalist of the Year at the 2025 Voyager Media Awards and has twice been named reporter of the year at the NZ Television Awards. He has been a broadcast journalist for 20 years and joined the Herald’s video team in July 2024.