VICTORIA Police has lost its way and needs to urgently address moral, leadership and professional standards, according to the retiring Police Association president, Inspector Brian Rix.

He said unless chronic problems were urgently confronted Victoria would eventually be served by a second-rate force.

Inspector Brian Rix retires after five years as Police Association president.

''There is no doubt that we were once the best in the country. That is clearly no longer the case. We have lost experience, no longer talk to crooks to gather intelligence and have ignored serious organised crime problems,'' he said. ''There is growing job dissatisfaction and burnout among the members … not enough is being done to help them.''

Inspector Rix, the former head of the homicide squad, said police were overwhelmed by paperwork and had become glorified ''computer data collection agents'', spending hours on reports rather than answering calls and investigating crimes.