Complaints against Victoria Police rose by 14 per cent last year according to a report from the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC).
Deputy IBAC Commissioner Kylie Kilgour said the annual snapshot of IBAC’s police oversight role showed that its work to oversee, investigate and expose police corruption and misconduct in Victoria were increasing.
Deputy Commissioner Kilgour said the aim of the snapshot, released as an infographic, was to inform the community about the breadth of IBAC’s work and to encourage people to speak up about police misconduct.
“Sixty-eight per cent of all complaints IBAC received in 2022 related to Victoria Police,” Deputy Commissioner Kilgour said.
“In 2022, IBAC completed 18 police related preliminary inquiries and investigations, in addition to commencing 11 new preliminary inquiries and investigations,” she said.
“IBAC reviewed 241 police internal investigations to ensure they had been investigated thoroughly and fairly – and that the findings were evidence based.”
Deputy Commissioner Kilgour said this represented a 68 per cent increase from 2021.
She said IBAC also played an important role in preventing police corruption through the recommendations it makes for reform, research, awareness raising, information and education.
“IBAC made 90 new recommendations,” the Deputy Commissioner said.
“Victoria Police implemented 36 previous recommendations, including changes to their conflict of interest policy,” she said.
“They also committed to adopting all the recommendations stemming from our research report on Victoria Police’s handling of complaints made by Aboriginal people by the middle of 2023.”
Deputy Commissioner Kilgour said that in 2022, IBAC ran 45 educations sessions for Victoria Police officers and released two research reports identifying deficiencies in police systems and processes.
“IBAC also ran a regional-based campaign in 2022 to increase awareness about its police oversight role, which was viewed online more than two million times,” she said.
“IBAC recognises we could not achieve much of this work without the cooperation of the community and Victoria Police employees, who alert us to misconduct or corruption.
IBAC’s 2022 snapshot can be accessed at this PS News link.
