Police Minister Mark Mitchell says trust needs to be regained after the Independent Police Conduct Authority found there were "significant failings" in the way police responded to complaints about former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

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Q+A asked him why allegations weren't raised in his office earlier and whether there were wider structural issues at play.

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Mitchell spoke of a “corrupt Police executive" in the interview, then later walked back on his comments.

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He said in a statement: “Regarding my comments on corruption, I acknowledge that the IPCA report did not use the words corrupt or corruption and on reflection I misspoke. Like most New Zealanders, I am personally disgusted by the behaviour highlighted in the IPCA report.”

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The IPCA report did find that in handling complaints McSkimming, Police bypassed standard processes. Although they didn’t find evidence of collusion, they did find senior officers — including the former Commissioner — attempted to rush investigations to help McSkimming’s application for commissioner and failed to recognise the inappropriateness of their actions.

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