The Police Accountability Body Victoria Needs: An Evidence-Based Report of the Sector’s Views

This report summarises the discussions at the Police Accountability Workshop held at La Trobe University Law School on 24 November 2023, organised in collaboration with the Police Accountability Project (‘PAP’) at Inner Melbourne Community Legal, and the Wirraway Practice at Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (‘VALS’). The workshop brought together a range of stakeholders from across advocacy, legal practice, academia, and lived experience, with the aim of identifying the key elements of an effective police oversight body.

From those discussions, the following overarching points emerged:

1. The current complaints system is not only ineffective at identifying and addressing police misconduct, but also fails to address harms experienced by the public.

2. An entirely new oversight body is needed. The Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (‘IBAC’) cannot be reformed to become an effective oversight body. The Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland (PONI) should cautiously be considered as a model, but needs to be adapted to an Australian settler-colonial context.

3. The new body must follow a civilian control model, i.e. be structurally and operationally independent from police.

4. The new body must be well-resourced and must be granted sufficient coercive powers to meaningfully hold police accountable, as well as monitoring powers and comprehensive access to police data to identify trends and systemic issues.

5. The new body must be complainant-centred, culturally safe and trauma informed. It must also have specific functions and powers geared towards addressing systemic racism and other systemic issues.

6. The new body must be empowered and resourced to monitor Victoria Police’s implementation of recommendations.

7. The success of the new body must be measured in practical effectiveness, and not solely by reference to the powers of the oversight body.

This report first provides a brief context to the workshop, including an overview of the current police oversight system in Victoria and its shortcomings. It also outlines the growing pressure for the establishment of a new, independent police oversight body. It then offers an overview of the key points raised in the workshop.