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Police Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards spoke out last night following his acquittal on sex charges saying going back to work was a matter of pride.
Mr Rickards has been acquitted of all the charges he faced in high-profile police rape trials.
He admitted to having consensual group sex
with Louise Nicholas in the 1980s, during his defence against charges relating to her.
Mr Rickards wants to return to his police job but is being held back by "employment issues" that must first be settled with his bosses.
On TV3's 60 Minutes last night he said: "It's a matter of pride for me. I need to walk back into the police and say, 'Hey, this is me - I'm Clint Rickards'."
He again denied forcing Mrs Nicholas to have sex. Asked whether she ever said "no" or offered any resistance, he replied: "Never. If she had I would have stopped immediately. She was more than willing, she was a consensual partner."
Prime Minister Helen Clark is winding up the pressure on Mr Rickards by expressing doubt that his sexual activities could have been genuinely consensual.
In a thinly veiled attack on the suspended Auckland police chief, the Prime Minister questioned whether there could be genuine consent when police officers in a position of responsibility engaged in group sex with a teenage girl.
"What I'm telling you is that, in my opinion, no reasonable person would think that a troubled teenage girl engaging in group sex with police officers in a regional town would believe that there are really issues of consent here."
Helen Clark is steering clear of offering an opinion on whether Mr Rickards should return to his job.
She is aware that if she entered the fray she could be accused of political interference - something Mr Rickards could use in his favour in any employment dispute.
But while she has not said he should go, her open questioning of his consent defence - which a jury believed - is likely to be seen as an unsubtle hint of her views.
Mr Rickards' lawyer, John Haigh, QC, said yesterday that he had "strong views" about the Prime Minister's comments. However, he did not want to enter the fray at this point "because the matter is in a sense sub judice between Mr Rickards' counsel and the police".
It is widely believed that Mr Rickards did himself no favours when he last week savaged the police's handling of investigations into him. His open support of convicted rapists Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton also raised eyebrows.
The suspended assistant commissioner appears to be facing an uphill battle to get his job back as high-level opposition builds.
Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard came out strongly against him on Sunday and National Party leader John Key yesterday suggested he should "pack up his tent and move along".
Looming in the background is the imminent release of the report of the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct, which is likely to contain some uncomfortable findings although it will not address the recent trials. The report by Dame Margaret Bazley will be handed to the Governor-General by the end of the month.