The possible legal implications of Victoria Police’s administrative bungle

A lawyer who specialises in police accountability says he wouldn’t be surprised if a Victoria Police bungle that saw more than 1200 officers and protective services officers never officially sworn in to do the job ended up in court.

A legislative oversight meant that deputy commissioners didn’t have the power to delegate acting assistant commissioners, so those acting assistant commissioner never had to power to swear in graduates.

It’s led to questions about the legality of any arrests or action they’d taken.

“If they’re not doing that lawfully, then that is a huge problem for our criminal justice system,” Jeremy King, Principal at Robinson Gill Lawyers, told Neil Mitchell.

He said it pointed to a bigger problem within the system.

“The external police oversight system in Victoria is just not up to scratch,” he said.

“This should have never happened.”

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