Some young migrant men are avoiding Melbourne's CBD over concerns of police assaults and harassment, according to a report from the Flemington Kensington Community Legal Centre.

The assault and harassment allegations were based on confidential interviews with ten young people conducted by the report's co-author, Maki Issa.

In one interview a man alleged he was covered in marks made by police.

Mr Issa said some young people avoid the CBD because of police violence.

"This is a massive issue," he said.

"They've stopped [going] because they've had experiences where they have been beaten up [by police] or have been discriminated against."

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Victoria Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Jack Blayney said the legal centre needed to co-operate if police were to investigate.

"If these people who have told some stories to them are prepared, either through them... or come to us, we would certainly be interested in hearing their stories and seeing what we can do about them," he said.

Men encouraged to file reports

Anthony Kelly, the chief executive of the Flemington Kensington Community Legal Centre, said they heard similar allegations "on a very regular basis".

He acknowledged that it was difficult for police to do much without any formal complaints and little proof.

"We're encouraging and supporting people to make formal complaints about this and those complaints — if they're treated effectively and if they're investigated adequately — they can create change internally," he said.

"What we're seeing is that young people generally don't trust the police will investigate their complaint fairly and independently."

Acting Deputy Commissioner Blayney said police had some concerns about the very small sample size and methodology of the legal centre's report.

"Irrespective of that, we would encourage anyone, including the people who may have participated in this research, to talk to us about their experiences so we can look into it," he said.

Police say no tolerance for racial profiling

The report was an assessment of how well Victoria Police is bringing about cultural change.

The police force promised improvement after settling a long-running court case alleging racial profiling in 2013.

During the case, a University of Melbourne expert gave evidence that young African men were two-and-a-half times more likely to be stopped and searched by police, compared with other groups.

But Victoria Police said they stood by their policy and zero-tolerance approach to racial profiling.

"Certainly the circumstances are that when police do act ... inappropriately then we deal with that," Acting Deputy Commissioner Blayney said.