A POLICE officer has been suspended with pay after being charged with driving a police car without a licence.

The man, a constable from Victoria Police's Transit and Public Safety Command, has been charged with 12 counts of driving while his licence was suspended between April and June last year.

All counts involved a police car.

He has also been charged with failing to tell his employer that he had lost his licence, police said.

A police spokesman said it was not known why the officer's licence was suspended.

The officer will appear before the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 26 March.