Most stories about a police officer being charged or being investigated for misconduct prompt the same question from readers: who polices the police? The honest answer is that several agencies do, with overlapping remits, and the system has been redesigned more than once in the last fifteen years to try to get the balance right.
This is our plain-English guide to how police accountability actually works in Victoria — the internal disciplinary process, the external oversight bodies, and the parallel pathway that runs when an officer is charged with a criminal offence.
Internal: Professional Standards Command
The first line of accountability is internal. Victoria Police runs Professional Standards Command (PSC), the unit responsible for investigating misconduct allegations against serving officers. PSC handles a wide range of matters — from minor breaches of policy through to serious misconduct that may amount to criminal offending.
Its powers come primarily from the Victoria Police Act 2013, which sets out the disciplinary regime, the categories of breach, and the process for hearings and dismissals. PSC investigations can be triggered by a public complaint, by another officer raising concerns, by media reporting, by a coronial referral, or by the Chief Commissioner’s direction.
An officer under PSC investigation can be subject to graduated workplace responses: reassignment to non-public-facing duties, suspension with or without pay, or, in serious cases, dismissal. The disciplinary process runs in parallel with any criminal proceeding and is not dependent on a criminal conviction. It is possible for an officer to be acquitted of a criminal charge and still be dismissed on disciplinary grounds, and vice versa.
External: the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission
The principal external oversight body is the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC). IBAC was established in 2012 under the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Act 2011 and replaced the earlier Office of Police Integrity. Its remit covers two broad pillars: corruption in the wider Victorian public sector, and serious police misconduct.
IBAC’s police-oversight function operates at two levels. At the day-to-day level it receives complaints about police conduct from members of the public and decides whether to investigate them itself, refer them to PSC, or dismiss them. At the higher level it conducts its own investigations into matters it considers sufficiently serious, including patterns of misconduct rather than individual incidents.
IBAC has the power to hold public examinations — the formal hearings the public sees reported in the press — but only in narrowly defined ‘exceptional circumstances’. The threshold has been set deliberately high. Most of IBAC’s investigative work happens in private and only becomes public when the Commission tables a special report on its findings.
IBAC has tabled several special reports specifically on police misconduct over the past decade. Those reports have driven structural changes within Victoria Police, including reforms to record-keeping, complaint handling and the way information is shared between PSC and IBAC.
External: the Victorian Inspectorate
Sitting above IBAC is the Victorian Inspectorate, established under the Victorian Inspectorate Act 2011. The Inspectorate’s role is to monitor IBAC’s exercise of its powers — particularly its coercive powers, such as compelled examinations and search warrants — and to receive complaints about IBAC itself. It is the watchdog on the watchdog.
The Inspectorate publishes annual reports and occasional special reports. Its findings have, on more than one occasion, led to procedural reform inside IBAC.
The Coroners Court of Victoria
Where a person dies in police custody, dies in the course of police operations, or dies shortly after contact with police, the death is automatically a reportable death under the Coroners Act 2008 (Vic) and is investigated by the Coroners Court. An inquest is mandatory in those cases. Coronial findings can include comments and recommendations directed at Victoria Police about training, policy or operational practice. Victoria Police is required to respond to coronial recommendations publicly, although it is not required to adopt them.
Coronial findings have been a significant driver of police-policy change in Victoria, particularly on the use of force, the response to mental-health crises, and the management of detainees in cells.
When an officer is charged with a crime
An officer can be charged with a criminal offence in two ways. Police-on-officer charges are laid by another police investigator — sometimes a member of PSC, sometimes a member of a specialist crime-command unit, sometimes a member of an interstate force where required to ensure independence. Where IBAC has investigated and concluded that an offence has been committed, IBAC refers the matter to the Office of Public Prosecutions, which independently decides whether to lay charges.
Once charges are laid, the matter proceeds through the ordinary Victorian criminal courts. The accused officer has the same rights and protections as any other defendant. The presumption of innocence applies. Suppression orders may apply. The matter may settle by guilty plea, may go to a contested hearing in the Magistrates’ Court for summary offences, or may be committed for trial in the County or Supreme Court for indictable offences.
Throughout the criminal process, the officer is also navigating the parallel disciplinary process. The two run on separate tracks but feed into one another. A formal interview with PSC investigators may produce admissions that are inadmissible in the criminal proceeding under Police Act protections. Conversely, a criminal acquittal does not bind the disciplinary tribunal, which applies a different standard of proof.
What the public can see
Transparency on police accountability is patchy by design and by accident. PSC’s case-by-case decisions are not generally published. IBAC publishes selected findings in special reports but not its full caseload. Coronial findings are public, but the inquest process can take years. Where an officer is criminally charged, the listing is public on the daily court list, the proceedings are open subject to suppression orders, and any conviction and sentence are public on the court record.
The result is that members of the public usually find out about a serious misconduct matter through three channels: a press release from Victoria Police on a charge being laid; a media-reported court appearance; or, eventually, an IBAC special report or coronial finding.
Where this sits in 2026
Police accountability in Victoria has been the subject of multiple inquiries in recent years — including the IBAC Lawyer X / Operation Gloucester reports, the parliamentary inquiries into the response to the COVID-19 protests, and Yoorrook Justice Commission findings on Aboriginal experience of policing. Each of those processes has produced recommendations that are at varying stages of implementation. Our newsroom tracks them and will report changes as they land.
Where you have information about police misconduct, the formal complaint pathway runs through IBAC. IBAC accepts complaints by phone on 1300 735 135, in writing, or online via the IBAC website. You may also complain directly to Victoria Police via PSC. Where you believe a person’s death has not been adequately investigated, the senior next of kin may apply to the State Coroner under section 52 of the Coroners Act for a fresh investigation.
If a matter described in a press release or court report has caused you distress, support is available 24/7 from Lifeline on 13 11 14 and Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636. For confidential complaints about police conduct, IBAC on 1300 735 135. In an emergency call 000.
