Victoria Police

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since November 2005. (help, talk)

Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of Victoria, Australia. As of 2005, the Victoria Police had over 13,100 personnel along with over 2,100 civilian staff in more than 330 police stations.

Contents

[edit] Rank structure

The rank structure of Victoria Police is as follows:

  • Recruit
  • Constable (probationary for 2 years from Graduation)
  • Constable (Confirmed)
  • Senior Constable (Promotion in-situ after 4 years of service)
  • Leading Senior Constable
  • Sergeant
  • Senior Sergeant
  • Inspector
  • Superintendent
  • Commander
  • Assistant Commissioner
  • Deputy Commissioner
  • Chief Commissioner

Additional classifications are available for members skillful enough, and upon completion of certain training and work-based performances, for classification of Detective at Senior Constable level. Detectives also hold classification right up to Superintendent.

[edit] Early history

Mounted officers of the Victoria Police
Enlarge
Mounted officers of the Victoria Police

The Victoria Police was formally established on 8 January 1853 from an existing colonial police force of 875 men. The first appointment as Chief Commissioner was William Henry Fancourt Mitchell.

Their first major engagement was the following year, 1854, in support of British soldiers during the events leading up to, and confrontation at, the Eureka Stockade. A new Chief Commissioner, Charles MacMahon, was appointed that same year. The first death in the line of duty, that of Constable William Hogan, also occurred in 1854.

The following couple of decades saw the growth of the police force, including the beginning of construction of the Russell Street police station in 1859 and the establishment of a special station in William Street to protect the Royal Mint in 1872.

Mounted police outside the Sarah Sands Hotel in Brunswick awaiting a march by the unemployed in 1893.
Enlarge
Mounted police outside the Sarah Sands Hotel in Brunswick awaiting a march by the unemployed in 1893.

Six years later, three more officers (Kennedy, Lonigan and Scanlan) were killed by the Kelly Gang at Stringybark Creek. Two years later, in 1880, the police confronted the Kelly Gang at Glenrowan. A shoot-out ensued on June 28, during which three members of the Kelly Gang were killed and following which Ned Kelly was captured.

1880 also saw the formation of the Aboriginal Tracker Corps. The corps was disbanded in 1968.

In 1888 Senior Constable John Barry produced the first Victoria Police Guide, a manual for officers. (The Victoria Police Manual, as it is now known, remains the comprehensive guide to procedure in the Victoria Police.) Police officers were granted the right to vote in parliamentary elections the same year.

In 1899 the force introduced the Victoria Police Valour Award to recognise the bravery of members. Three years later, in 1902, the right to a police pension was revoked.

[edit] 1923 Victorian Police strike

Main article: 1923 Victorian Police strike

On 31 October 1923 members of the Victoria Police Force refused duty and went on strike over the introduction of a new supervisory system. The police strike led to riots and looting in Melbourne's CBD. The Victorian government enlisted Special Constables, and the Commonwealth of Australia called out the Australian military.

None of the strikers were ever employed as policemen again, and the government increased pay and conditions for police as a result. "Members" of the Victoria Police (as its officers are generally known) now have among the highest union membership rates of any occupation, at well over 90%.The Victorian police union, the Police Association, remains a very powerful industrial and political force in Victoria.

[edit] Links to the Scouting Movement

At some point in the 1990s, Victoria Police were kind enough to offer the use of their hall to the 1st Victoria Police Scottish Scout Group, who in appreciation, adopted the Victoria Police Pipe Band's MacPherson tartan kilt into their uniform. With the kilt disappearing from the uniform of 1st VPS with its amagamation with 1st Glen Waverley Scout Troop in 2003, the association between Victoria Police and the Scouting Movement has been relagated to history.

[edit] Recent history

Memorial in Kings Domain, Melbourne to Victoria Police officers slain in the line of duty
Enlarge
Memorial in Kings Domain, Melbourne to Victoria Police officers slain in the line of duty

In the 1980s and 1990s most Australian police forces battled widespread allegations of corruption and graft. These allegations culminated in the establishment of several Royal Commissions and anti-corruption watchdogs. Victoria Police have also had their fair share of inquiries (Beach et al). Criticisms centred around the fact that Victoria Police members were shooting dead members of the public (both innocent and guilty) at a rate exceeding that of all other Australian police forces combined.

Mostly the deaths were alleged to be due to ineptitude and mistake by members - but some others were said to be deliberate executions. These views were fuelled when various members of the Armed Robbery and Homicide Squads were charged with murder-related offences after Armed Robbery Squad detectives shot, Graeme Jensen, while trying to arrest him. The Police Association campaigned vigorously on their behalf, and the charges were withdrawn.

[edit] Tasty nightclub raid

Main article: Tasty nightclub raid

In August 1994 Victoria Police raided the Tasty nightclub in Flinders Lane, Melbourne. All up, 463 patrons were strip searched at the club during the raid. The forced strip search was particularly humiliating for the transgender patrons. The incident led to successful legal action against the Victoria Police force at great financial cost to them. In retrospect it has become a historic and legal precedent limiting the powers of police search in Victoria.

In 2001 Christine Nixon was appointed Chief Commissioner, becoming the first woman to head a police force in Australia.

In June 2003, Taskforce Purana was set up by Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Simon Overland to investigate Melbourne's "gangland killings".

[edit] Officers killed on duty

Gary Silk and Rodney Miller
Enlarge
Gary Silk and Rodney Miller

[edit] Detective Branch

Detectives form an integral function in Victoria Police for the detection and investigation of serious crime. Crimes ranging from Burglaries and major thefts, serious assaults and now, as a result of the reorganisation of the Crime Department, Murder/Suicides are just some of the crimes investigated by Suburban (Divisional) Detectives.

Many major police stations, in places such as Fawkner, Broadmeadows, Dandenong and Melbourne West have a Crime Investigation Unit attached to the station, which looks after crime within those and other neighbouring sub-districts falling within their area.

The State Crime Squads, situated in St Kilda Road, have been recently realigned and contain a number of squads and mini taskforces responsible for the investigation of major drug trafficking activities, major frauds, Homicides, Armed Robbery and Firearms Trafficking and sex offences to name but a few.

To become a Detective within Victoria Police members must be confirmed Senior Constables, with at least 5 years service, have completed the Field Investigation Course and obtained sufficient experience to sustain the application and interviewing process. Upon obtaining a position at a CIU/Squad, members must then complete the training package (prelilminary portfolio of work and course attendance) at the School of Investigation (Detective Training School) to confirm their position as a qualified Detective. Detective positions within Victoria Police are highly sought after and awarded, generally, to only the best police applying.

Traditionally, more experenced detectives cut their teeth at divisions and then moved into the crime squads. However the last 10 years has seen a switch in that progression, in that many junior detectives first obtain positions at the sometimes easier to fill Crime Department positions and then later moving onto divisional work. One major reason for this is the travel and often heavy hours involved in working within Metropolitan Melbourne.

The more major crime squads, such as Homicide, still attract only the most experienced detectives from divisions. The newly implemented Major Crime Management Model has changed the face of some squads, including the traditional hardmen of the Crime Department, the Armed Offenders Squad, which has lost some of its luster by being forced to choose members who may not have obtained positions were it not for the need to fill these from within the Crime Department.

[edit] See also

Other Australia law agencies:

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../v/i/c/Victoria_Police_317e.html"