One of the Gold Coast's most senior police officers has been charged with multiple perjury offences following an investigation by the state's corruption watchdog.

Superintendent Michelle Stenner is alleged to have lied to the Crime and Corruption Commission during an investigative hearing.

The corruption watchdog has been investigating Stenner over her role in the appointment of the Gold Coast's Chief Superintendent Terry Borland's daughter for a role within the police service.

Stenner was charged at the Southport watch-house on Thursday morning with three counts of perjury and a single charge of misconduct in public office.

She was then released on bail, to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on September 21.

The maximum penalty for perjury is 14 years' imprisonment.

Criminologist and former detective inspector Terry Goldsworthy said the charges and potential penalties were very serious.

"If the allegations are proven I expect that you would see a term of imprisonment the most likely outcome."

The arrest comes after the chairman of the CCC, Alan MacSporran, gave a general warning at a parliamentary committee this week that anyone who misleads a CCC hearing will be charged with perjury, particularly because they are protected from self-incrimination.

"The stance that we take and will increasingly take from this point forward is that people who come in with that background and deliberately tell lies will, if it is something that we can prove to be a lie, will be charged with perjury," Mr MacSporran said.

Mr Goldsworthy said it was "highly unusual" for a senior police officer charged with these offences to go through the watch-house process.

"The fact that they arrested and charged and put a senior police officer through the watch-house process was a deliberate statement by the CCC to say that we are not mucking around with this anymore," he said.

Superintendent Stenner is currently on leave from her position.

Commissioned officers' union president Superintendent Dale Friberg said the union would support Stenner through the court case.

"The fact that they are currently before the court, we couldn't offer any comment in relation to it," she said.

"But we would like people to be mindful of the fact that she's innocent until proven guilty."

The Queensland Police Service confirmed it had been notified of the charges by the CCC and was now "considering the matter within the internal disciplinary system".

But Professor Goldsworthy questioned why Police Commissioner Ian Stewart did not suspend her while the CCC investigated.

"This has been in the public realm for several months. Yet we haven't seen this senior officer who is under investigation … stood down or suspended which is quite a normal process for junior officers," he said.

"There are serious questions to be answered by the Commissioner as to why that didn't happen, the decision to do that rests with the Police Commissioner, not the CCC."



ABC/AAP