Vic cops to probe freeway arrest tactics

Victorian police are investigating claims officers deliberately blocked traffic on a Melbourne freeway to trap a fleeing driver who hit stopped cars before his arrest.

A 24-year-old Broadmeadows man was charged with 12 counts of reckless conduct endangering serious injury, four of evading police, four of unlicensed driving, two of burglary, two of theft and one of theft of a motor vehicle following the incident on Sunday.

Police allege the man twice sped away from officers in the van, which they say contained a large amount of stolen goods.

They tracked him from a police helicopter as he drove onto the Tullamarine Freeway.

At the time, a Victoria Police spokesman said a police car approached as the van stopped in heavy traffic on the freeway in Brunswick West.

The man crashed into several cars, but stop sticks deployed by the police stopped the van. No one was hurt.

But there have since been complaints from motorists that police blocked the traffic to trap the man.

Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane says the "rolling road block" tactic is banned, and officers involved would be quizzed about how the van was halted.

"There was certainly some congestion on the road and there was the presence of police vehicles," Mr Leane said.

"Exactly whether that was a rolling road block or whether police took advantage of that period of time, we'll work through."

In 2012, police stopped traffic on the Hume Freeway at Epping in a bid to stop a motorist fleeing officers at high speed, causing a crash.

At the time, the operation was heavily criticised by then-premier Ted Baillieu and then-police chief commissioner Ken Lay.

Video from the police helicopter, freeway surveillance footage and police radio traffic will be examined, Mr Leane said.

Police will compensate drivers whose cars were damaged if the force is found to be at fault, he said.