Victoria Police has suspended four officers after video showed the alleged use of excessive force on two occasions in Melbourne.

A fifth officer has been reassigned to alternative duties over an incident in Bendigo in March, 2015.

The decision was made by Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius, who is the head of the Professional Standards command.

Police said the measures were "interim actions" while the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) investigates the matters.

In one incident, in October 2017, a number of Victoria Police officers dragged a disability pensioner into his front yard, where he was pinned to the ground.

Police had been called to conduct a welfare check and the incident was recorded on CCTV.

Three officers have been suspended over that incident.

Sorry, this video has expired CCTV footage of police punching, kicking and stomping on a man during an arrest in a Melbourne pharmacy

Video from another incident showed an officer stomping on the back of a handcuffed African-Australian man, who had assaulted several people before trying to hold up a Melbourne pharmacy with a pair of scissors in 2016.

One officer has been suspended over that incident.

The third incident took place at a Bendigo police station in 2015, when a security camera recorded an officer hurling a handcuffed prisoner into a metal door.

An officer has been "assigned to alternative duties" over that incident, a Victoria Police statement said.

Victoria Police did not specify which officers had been suspended.

Sorry, this video has expired A security camera recorded a police officer throwing a Bendigo prisoner into a door

The videos, released as part of an ABC/The Age investigation, raised new concerns about the use of force by Victorian police and the systems to deal with complaints against them.

Earlier this week, the executive director of the Human Rights Law Centre, Hugh de Kretser, said the Victorian Government needed to create an independent body to investigate misconduct accusations.

"The current system is failing Victorians and the odds are stacked against anyone who complains against police," he said.

The incidents: John

In the first case, carers called police with concerns over the deteriorating mental state of John, a disability pensioner.

Police dispatch notes warned that John could confront police and attempt to provoke them into shooting him.

He told police to go away but when he did open his front door, police alleged he came at them with two raised fists.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 37 seconds 37 s A police officer appears to use his phone to capture another officer spraying water into John's face.

CCTV that had been installed to catch robbers showed officers approaching him with a canister of capsicum spray.

Moments later he was pinned to the ground, sprayed with capsicum spray, then sprayed with a garden hose aimed at his face at maximum pressure.

"He's aiming for my nostrils and it's going into my lungs — and that's when I started choking from the water and from the hot mace going into my respiratory [system]," John said.

"I couldn't breathe. I really, literally thought I was going to drown."

None of the six officers present that day raised concerns about their colleagues' behaviour in the police notes of the incident.

The pharmacy: armed robber

The second incident happened at a pharmacy in the Melbourne suburb of Preston in 2016.

A 23-year-old man was repeatedly punched, kicked in the head and hammered with a baton during an arrest.

CCTV footage showed police struggling to handcuff the man after he had been disarmed.

The offender later pleaded guilty to armed robbery and assault charges and is currently serving a jail sentence of two years and nine months.

Victoria Police's Professional Standards Unit found the actions of the police were appropriate and in accordance with the law.

The man's lawyer, Natasha Wolan said the force used against her client was excessive.

"He suffered significant facial injuries, most of his teeth were snapped, he's got ongoing back issues," she said earlier this week.

"He was taken to hospital after the incident because he was deemed not fit to be in police custody."

Read the written statement from Victoria Police.

The police station: Jia Meeks

Jia Meeks' face was left bloodied after the incident in custody. ( Supplied )

In the third incident a man who had been drinking heavily was approached by police outside a Bendigo hotel.

Police said he was swearing at them and acting aggressively.

The police report said he kicked at an officer who was trying to put him into a police van and was punched by an officer to restrain him.

The report alleged the man, Jia Meeks, had tried to headbutt an officer at the Bendigo police station, but CCTV video showed him being hurled in a 180 degree arc around an officer's body when he tried to wriggle free.

As both men fell to the floor, Mr Meek's head hit the door of a holding cell.

A charge of resisting arrest was proven but later dismissed.

Police also charged him over the alleged headbutt, but that charge was also dropped.

The union representing Victorian police officers, the Police Association, said it had been made aware of the suspensions.

"As we have said repeatedly in recent days, it is of the utmost importance that these members are subject to due process and are given a chance to answer questions surrounding their conduct," the association said.