VICTORIAN cops need to end the decades-long practice of “police investigating police” and downplaying serious complaints made against officers, legal experts say.

In July the State Parliament’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) Committee called for submissions into an inquiry into how complaints about police misconduct and corruption were handled.

The inquiry has received more than 40 responses, and almost 90 per cent of publicly available submissions — including those from Victorian Legal Aid, Youthlaw and various community legal services — said the present system wasn’t good enough.

PUBLIC PROBE INTO POLICE COMPLAINTS SYSTEM

CALL FOR INDEPENDENT BODY TO INVESTIGATE POLICE COMPLAINTS

media_camera The Victorian Parliament will consider how complaints about police misconduct and corruption are handled.

Recurring issues raised included concern over the low substantiation rates of police misconduct allegations and complaints being classified as less serious, such as assault complaints being classified as a “customer service issue”.

Submissions called for the creation of an independent body to investigate complaints.

Although IBAC has the power to investigate police misconduct and corruption, the commission refers about 90 per cent of complaints back to Victoria Police to investigate.

Police Accountability Project solicitor Sophie Ellis said the public was calling for change because it had no trust in a system in which police investigated each other.

“It is extraordinary that in 2016, even extremely serious complaints, which raise criminal allegations like assault or human rights breaches, still remain in the hands of police,” Ms Ellis said.

“Victoria must move to independent investigations of police in line with other jurisdictions and United Nations guidelines if we are serious about having a system that works and which shares the confidence of both police and the public.”

Flemington Kensington Community Legal Centre chief executive Anthony Kelly said the problem of police downplaying the seriousness of complaints was an ongoing issue.

The Victorian Inspectorate’s submission supported IBAC continuing as Victoria’s police oversight body and said the current regime was “basically sound”.

But the Inspectorate also recommended the commission improve the way it communicated with complainants.

The Police Association of Victoria (TPAV) said IBAC had sufficient investigative and oversight powers and “we do not agree that vesting them, or any other independent body, with the responsibility of investigating all police complaints is appropriate”.

“We acknowledge that in certain cases complaints against police are meritorious. That said, there should be an equal degree of acceptance that police work is inherently susceptible to allegations of misconduct and … at times complaints may be lodged simply as a way of obfuscating the complainant’s own criminal conduct,” the TPAV submission said.

The IBAC Committee’s inquiry has not held any public hearings yet and will report on findings by June 30 next year.