Hamilton man Charlie Simonsen-Kemp impersonated police on numerous occasions, also posing as an NZ Transport Agency staff member and a Hamilton City Council pest control officer. The 20-year-old was even successful in getting a job through a recruitment agency.
Hamilton man Charlie Simonsen-Kemp impersonated police on numerous occasions, also posing as an NZ Transport Agency staff member and a Hamilton City Council pest control officer. The 20-year-old was even successful in getting a job through a recruitment agency.
In what varied between harmless, bizarre and vulgar, a man with a penchant for impersonating police used his facade to reel in unsuspecting teen girls.
Charlie Terry Simonsen-Kemp’s apparent obsession with being a police officer mostly centred on telling people he was a “Detective” or “Detective Inspector”.
However, the 20-year-oldWaikato man‘s behaviour spiralled after he sent a 15-year-old sexually explicit videos and a photo in which he was holding his fake police identification in his mouth.
On one occasion, he managed to get a job as a traffic management officer through a recruitment agency, after stating he was a detective but needed a second job.
He later used his grandfather’s driver’s licence to get a Class 2 classification to operate machinery, claimed to work for Hamilton City Council after being caught shooting possums, and was an “emergency responder” with NZ Transport Agency (NZTA).
Simonsen-Kemp appeared via audiovisual link in the Hamilton District Court on Tuesday, where he admitted numerous charges, including forgery, personating a police officer, altering a document, using a forged document, driving with excess breath alcohol and exposure of a young person to indecent material.
He was convicted on all charges by Judge Swaran Singh and remanded in custody for sentencing later this month.
‘Bruce took my parking spot’
Simonsen-Kemp became involved in a casual relationship with a 17-year-old girl he “randomly added” from Snapchat in December 2024.
During their initial messages, he told the girl he was a “cop” to reassure her it was safe for him to pick her up and visit Kmart.
While there, the girl asked him how he had become a cop aged only 18 and he said he had previously worked for NZTA and spent lots of time with police.
He added that he’d also done a youth programme when he was 15, so when it came going to police college, he’d “already done a lot of training”, including driving.
The girl noticed he had a NZ Police logo on his iCloud photo, and he sent her photos of himself wearing a white police identification card both around his neck and attached to his hip.
He kept the ID card in a clear plastic wallet, often attached to his hip on an extendable clip, but he’d tuck it into his pocket when they went out.
Simonsen-Kemp would always have it on him, but never let her touch it, saying this was “something to do with fingerprints”.
When visiting his house, he showed her a program on his laptop that he claimed was the “police database for entering traffic crash reports”.
During January 2025, he texted her, “ill lyk [let you know] when I leave the station xx”, and “leaving the station now”.
The following month, he texted her his supposed police details, including his rank, “Detective” status, badge number, and that he was stationed in Ngāruawāhia.
A few days later, he texted to break up with her, stating, “Being nearly 19, while you’re still 17 has started to affect not only my job but also how people see me”.
A week later he sent her a screenshot of a text from a fake police officer that said, “Look Charlie. You can date and see that 17 year old but if anything happens its coming back on you. Ball is in your court.” [sic]
The following day, he texted her a photo of a patrol car parked at the Waikato police highway patrol base along with the words, “c*** took my car park”, followed by, “BRUCE TOOK MY PARKING SPOT”.
‘ill let central know’
The girl’s mother worked for VTNZ and she asked Simonsen-Kemp to return a booklet to police, and when she texted him about it, he replied, “that appears to be the pad from shauns car”.
He continued: “you can tell by the coffee stains, ill let central know or I can swing by later as we keep those on our DLDR system”, before adding that he’d “make some calls”.
After a series of other messages, he texted her to say he would need to write the situation up as a minor incident as “losing documentation is a serious issue”.
On February 17 he went to Hamilton Central Police Station to ask if his Eftpos card had been handed in.
Hamilton Central Police Station. Photo / RNZ
He told the front-counter employee he was a cop based in Ngāruawāhia and held up a white police ID card.
The employee asked him if he knew an officer in Huntly, and Simonsen-Kemp replied that he knew him, and referred to him by his nickname.
He left, and the employee searched his QID number, which revealed that it didn’t exist.
In another elaborate incident in June 2024, he told a female associate he worked for NZTA as an emergency responder to crashes.
In February 2025, the woman contacted him after being assaulted, and he went to the medical centre, telling her he could “take a statement” and that she could talk to him “about anything law related”.
He began taking a statement and asking numerous questions about the assault, saying he would try to find CCTV footage, and that he had to get back to work because he was working on a sexual assault case.
The ruse continued for another 24 hours.
When questioned, Simonsen-Kemp said he pretended to be a police officer to “get approval from people and get them to like him”.
When police executed a search warrant at his home, they searched his phone, and discovered his offending involving the recruitment agency, the use of his grandfather’s licence, sexually explicit videos, and details of his offending at Temple View.
A charge of forgery related to him showing a Hamilton City Council “permit” allowing him to undertake pest control after being approached by a security officer as he shot possums at the Taitua Arboretum on May 2 last year.
When questioned, he said he made the document because he “didn’t want to get into trouble”.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.
