Over 1,000 police officers are being urgently sworn in (again!) to perform their duties following the uncovering of an administrative error which saw them performing their duties without the legal powers to do so.
Announced by Minister for Police, Lisa Neville, retrospective legislation is being drafted to correct the error, arising from amendments made to the Victoria Police Act in 2013, and ensure criminal cases involving the affected officers could not be legally challenged.
Ms Neville said changes to the Act in 2013 meant Deputy Commissioners could no longer appoint colleagues to the position of Acting Assistant Commissioner, without the formal authorisation of the Chief Commissioner.
She said that, between July 2014 and August last year, 1,076 police officers, 157 Protective Services Officers and 29 Police Custody Officers were sworn in by Acting Assistant Commissioners who did not have the required delegation (valid powers) to do so.
“This issue has had no impact on the training or work of these officers who remain highly valued and vital members of the Force,” Ms Neville said.
“The Government will urgently introduce legislation to fix the administrative error, with legislation expected to be introduced into the Parliament at the next sitting week,” she said.
Chief Commissioner for Victoria Police, Shane Patton said he was “very confident” the legislation would address the issue and, in the meantime, police would move to adjourn any legal challenges launched on the basis of the error.
Chief Commissioner Patton said it was not clear who was to blame for the failure to identify the issue in 2014 and that the Force discovered the error after questions about the power of an Assistant Commissioner and their authority were raised in a court hearing in February last year.
He said the number of cases potentially affected was not clear and noted there was unlikely to be any issue in cases where an affected officer was accompanied by a legitimately sworn-in officer.
“There is no doubt (the officers) have acted in good faith by performing their duties in the belief they were correctly sworn in or affirmed and they have my full support,” Chief Commissioner Patton said.
