Victoria Police investigates 683 staff over alleged rape, child sex, family violence

Victoria Police have investigated 683 of its own employees in the past five years over alleged sexual and family violence offences.

Those staff — both sworn and unsworn — were under investigation for rape, child sex offences, sexual harassment, predatory behaviour and family violence from January 1, 2019, to June 30, 2024, according to figures first obtained by the Herald Sun under the Freedom of Information Act.

The most cases were for sexual offences at 185 over five years, followed by sexual harassment with 169 cases.

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The behaviour is alleged to have occurred both on and off duty.

Victoria Police confirmed the figures to 9News.com.au, adding that the vast majority of its 22,000 employees "do the right thing".

"No one in Victoria Police is above the law," a spokesperson said.

"In fact, the authority and responsibility entrusted in our employees means they should be rightly held to a higher standard than the rest of the community both on and off duty."

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Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said most of the investigations were of uniformed officers and admitted the figures were alarming.

"That's a significant concern," he told ABC Radio Melbourne today.

"This isn't just specific to police. I mean those types of offences, other than the predatory behaviour, where they're leveraging off their office offences, they are right across the spectrum of the community.

"Am I trying to defend that? No."

Patton added that the force had changed its policies, procedures and processes to deal with the offending.

"We've still got offending occurring, don't get me wrong on that, but we are doing everything we can because we realise this type of offending, it's abhorrent offending and what we have to stop," he said.

"We are holding police officers to account, we are holding other employees to account."

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Victoria Police established the Sexual Offences and Family Violence Unit in late 2021 to investigate offending within its ranks.

A standalone Employee-Related Family Violence Policy was introduced so that disciplinary action could be taken against an employee who has perpetrated family violence, regardless of whether criminal offences have been identified or proven.

"This means as well as any criminal investigation, perpetrators can expect disciplinary proceedings which can result in dismissal from Victoria Police," a Victoria Police spokesperson said.

Employees are also required to declare any conflict of interest resulting from a personal or intimate relationship, including relationships where the employees are in a direct reporting line, under rules introduced in August 2022.

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Victoria Police said the figures proved the community should have confidence that it would not hesitate in taking action against sexual and family violence offending within the organisation.

"When a Victoria Police employee is charged with a serious offence they can be suspended with pay, suspended without pay, transferred to other duties or directed to take leave," a spokesperson said.

"Some may resign before a criminal matter is determined at court."

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).