Police officer being probed named as 50 cases reopened

By Sam Sherwood of RNZ

The senior police officer facing an employment investigation over the handling of more than 50 cases of child protection complaints and adult sexual assault is Detective Inspector Kevan Verry, RNZ understands.

The cases have been reopened after concerns were raised in May 2026 about the management of one historic case, Assistant Commissioner District Support Tusha Penny said.

RNZ understands the officer is Verry. He currently works in the National Gang Unit based in Wellington and has been a police officer for nearly 30 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

RNZ approached Verry for comment on Tuesday morning. He replied: “I will not be making any comment about the case”.

Verry previously worked in Northland.

He is now subject to an employment process, with police describing the revelations as “extremely concerning”. RNZ understands he is currently away from work.

In a statement sent to RNZ, Assistant Commissioner District Support Tusha Penny said concerns were raised in May 2026 about the management of one historical case.

“That initial case sparked a further review where another 13 cases were identified as requiring re-investigation.

“All these cases have been reassigned, and all victims have been contacted.”

Police also carried out a rapid review of about 1000 files which were “under the oversight” of the senior officer, with a further 40 cases identified for re-investigation.

Penny said the operation had pulled together a team of specialist child protection and adult sexual assault investigators to work on the re-opened cases.

“An internal assurance audit of all districts and service centres confirmed for police that there were not wider systemic issues.

“We have engaged external support agencies to offer support to the complainants in these cases.”

Penny said police took commitment to victims seriously and would be working to further strengthen their processes.

“We are working with Oranga Tamariki, IPCA and other agencies, as we progress this matter.

“While this issue is extremely concerning for police, it does not reflect the dedication and work of officers across the country who work every day to prevent, respond and resolve crime with victims at the centre of everything they do.”

Police had self-referred the matter to the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

An IPCA spokesperson told RNZ they were notified by police of the matter on June 2.

“We are overseeing the police investigation into this matter. Police have been keeping us updated on matter.”

Chief victims adviser Ruth Money told RNZ she had received a briefing on the matter.

“This is obviously a horrendous and tragically sad case of a senior person not doing their job and letting these families down, letting these victims down and letting New Zealand down, letting their teammates at police down.”

She encouraged anyone with concerns to speak to either police, local sexual violence help, or herself at her office.

“It’s really important that people understand that this is an isolated incident. I’m incredibly confident in our police force. This is a horrific incident and as soon as police headquarters got a hint that there was a problem they swung into action and reviewed hundreds of hundreds of files, so we can all be sure that this is a safe environment for our victims.”

Money said she appreciated the “urgency and professionalism” that police showed by carrying out the rapid review.

Money said she was not briefed on who the officer is.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell said he had asked for a briefing from police, and for reassurance victims were receiving support.

“I had not received a briefing on this matter at the time of response, but on becoming aware of the situation, I have requested a full briefing from police.”

My expectation is that victims whose files have been re-opened are receiving information and support and I have asked police for reassurance this is happening.

“I am pleased to see that police have been proactive and undertaken a full audit of all files when the issue surrounding a file was bought forward.”

Our police officers do outstanding work every day in the very difficult, sensitive and challenging area of child sex offending and will be feeling badly let down by this situation. These officers invest a lot of themselves in supporting and working hard for the best outcome for victims.

“The victims must be at the heart of any additional police work on the files identified.”

-RNZ

This story was first published on rnz.co.nz