Media Releases

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) has today released the annual snapshot of its independent police oversight role, identifying a rising number of complaints and notifications about police misconduct.

This snapshot provides an overview of police misconduct complaints and notifications received by IBAC in the 2023 calendar year, as well as information on monitoring, investigations, reviews, recommendations, compliance audits and prevention initiatives.

The 2023 snapshot shows IBAC assessed a total of 4317 allegations about Victoria Police and 1914 complaints.

IBAC also received 1709 mandatory notifications from Victoria Police, which is a 13 per cent increase from 2022. In addition, there were 316 serious incident notifications, which includes any police contact that results in death or serious injury, a 19 per cent increase from 2022.

IBAC Deputy Commissioner Stephen Farrow said police oversight continued to be the most significant proportion of IBAC’s work. “58 per cent of all complaints received by IBAC in 2023 related to Victoria Police,” Deputy Commissioner Farrow said.

“This snapshot provides a valuable insight into the vital role IBAC plays in Victoria’s police oversight system and quantifies the significant work involved in overseeing and investigating police misconduct.”

In 2023, IBAC commenced 23 preliminary inquiries and investigations, including seven which were ‘own motion’ – that is, initiated by intelligence collected by IBAC instead of a complaint.

There were 15 preliminary inquiries and investigations finalised in 2023 which included IBAC assessing whether a former police officer used their relationship with current police personnel for favours, information or access.  IBAC also looked into the handling of a family violence incident and alleged improper conduct during a vehicle intercept.

In addition to its investigation work, IBAC finalised two thematic reviews in 2023 about Victoria Police internal investigations. One involving police use of oleoresin capsicum spray and another on family violence incidents involving police personnel.

As a result of investigations, reviews, audits and research reports, IBAC makes recommendations for Victoria Police to strengthen its policies and procedures to address systemic police misconduct and improve the running of internal investigations.

In 2023, IBAC made 19 new recommendations. Victoria Police implemented 39 previous recommendations, including a simplified complaint classification system to help ensure clarity for people who submit a complaint, as well as investigators, and subject officers.    

“The investigations, reviews and recommendations captured in this snapshot demonstrates the breadth of the police misconduct issues IBAC can investigate and oversight, as well as the impact of IBAC’s work to drive reform,” Deputy Commissioner Farrow said. 

“We encourage the community and Victoria Police employees to continue to alert us to misconduct and potential corruption. We rely on you to help us hold police accountable.”

This year’s snapshot has also been released with additional information on emerging and enduring misconduct risks impacting Victoria Police.  

About IBAC’s police oversight role 

IBAC is Victoria's independent body responsible for preventing and exposing police misconduct. Our role is an important part of Victoria’s police oversight system and helps the community have confidence that police will act fairly, impartially and in accordance with the law.

IBAC's police oversight role includes investigations of serious or systemic corruption or misconduct; reviews of misconduct investigations undertaken by Victoria Police; recommendations for significant changes to policy and practice; and overseeing police compliance with a range of legislation.
 

Media

For media-related enquiries, please contact: media@ibac.vic.gov.au or 0427 480 840.