Victoria Police Career Pathways and Operational Notes

Victoria Police Organization and Career Pathways

• Victoria Police comprises over $22,000$ total staff members operating across operational, specialist, and professional disciplines.

• Roster coverage is provided $24$ hours a day, $7$ days a week across the state of Victoria.

• There are four main operational and employment pathways within the organization:

  • Sworn Police Officer.

  • Protective Services Officer (PSO).

  • Police Custody Officer (PCO) (a specialized Victorian Public Servant role).

  • Victorian Public Servant (VPS) professional support staff.

• Financial compensation and starting entitlements for sworn police officers:

  • Baseline starting salary during Glen Waverley Academy training is $93,212 per year.

  • Additional call-out allowances, overtime pay upon graduation to Constable, and superannuation are paid on top of the base rate.

• Regional postings offer specific lifestyle and career benefits:

  • Financial incentives and standard work-life balance.

  • Exposure to general policing duties at a managed pace compared to high-volume metropolitan divisions.

  • Options to be assigned directly within candidates' local regional communities.

Sworn Police Officers and General Duties

• Mandatory foundational service: All sworn police officers must complete $2\text{ to }4$ years of General Duties policing prior to applying for specialist units (such as Prosecutions, Detective branches, or tactical units).

• Primary responsibilities of General Duties officers:

  • Responding directly to Triple Zero ($000$) emergency calls $24/7$

  • Conducting initial scene investigations and offense inquiries.

  • Engaging with community members and local stakeholders.

  • Attending incidents involving family violence, mental health crises, retail theft, property damage, traffic collisions, fatalities, unattended deaths, and public disturbances.

  • Managing front-line emergency service linkages, connecting with the State Emergency Service (SES), fire services, hospitals, mental health support agencies, and family violence response groups.

• General Duties operational shift structure:

  • Watch House Shift: Station-based duties, managing station intake, holding facilities, and walk-in inquiries.

  • Van Shift: Road-based patrol duties responding directly to dispatched incidents.

• General Duties officers arrive first on scene for approximately $99BASEGS$ ($99UPPERGS$) of all emergency calls.

Victorian Public Servants (VPS) Pathways

• Approximately $4,000$ staff members across Victoria Police are employed as non-sworn Victorian Public Servants (VPS).

• Operational locations: Primarily centralized at the Victoria Police Centre in Melbourne, with embedded positions at regional police stations, court houses, and specialized support units.

• Functional areas and role types:

  • Human Resources (HR).

  • Media and Communications.

  • Information Technology (IT).

  • Property Administration Officers.

  • Policy Officers.

  • Project Officers.

  • Legal Support Officers, Police Lawyers, and Senior Police Lawyers.

• Entry points and progression structure:

  • Entry-level roles typically begin at the VPS 2 or VPS 3 classification (VPS 3 is common for law graduates).

  • Progression moves sequentially through VPS 4, VPS 5, and executive levels.

• VPS recruitment advantages:

  • VPS applicants do not complete physical fitness testing or the $25$-week Glen Waverley Police Academy training.

  • Recruitment is conducted via standard application procedures using Key Selection Criteria (KSC), resumes, and behavioral interviews.

  • VPS benefits and entitlements (such as recreation leave and long service leave) transfer across all Victorian Government public service departments.

Legal Services Department and Court Services Division

• Legal Services acts as the operational legal conduit between frontline units (General Duties, Criminal Investigation Branches) and the judicial system.

• Structure of Court Services Division:

  • Employs approximately $700$ staff members statewide.

  • Comprises two core operational branches: Prosecutions Branch and Specialist Litigation Division.

  • Maintains a presence across $12$ metropolitan courts and over $40$ regional court locations.

• Operational functions of the Prosecutions Branch:

  • Responsible for conducting summary prosecutions in the Magistrates' Court and Children's Court.

  • Manages almost all summary criminal matters and police-initiated Family Violence Intervention Orders (FVIOs) across Victoria.

  • Represents police in specialist court jurisdictions:

  • Drug Court.

  • Assessment and Referral Court (ARC) for individuals with intellectual or mental health disabilities.

  • Specialist Family Violence Courts.

  • Koori Court.

  • Operates after-hours capabilities via the Bail and Remand Court and weekend court sittings, focusing on youth and remanded offenders.

• Prosecution Support Branch and Training:

  • Combines sworn police prosecutors and non-sworn VPS police lawyers.

  • Conducts the Graduate Certificate in Police Prosecution, a $56$-week training program qualifying sworn officers and VPS lawyers to appear as prosecutors in Magistrates' and Children's Courts.

  • Provides active legislative advice and frontline decision-making support (such as bail reforms and youth law updates) to field detectives and operational officers.

Specialist Units and Specialized Operations

• Sworn police officers can apply for internal specialist roles following their initial General Duties tenure ($2\text{ to }4$ years).

• Major Specialist Units and Operational Footprints:

  • Detectives / Criminal Investigation Branches (CIB): Approximately $2,000$ positions statewide covering serious local crime, homicides, sexual offenses, and complex investigations.

  • Dog Squad: Highly competitive specialist unit containing $56$ active members state-wide; utilizes Expression of Interest (EOI) entry pathways.

  • Public Order Response Team (PORT): Tactical unit handling crowd control, out-of-control parties, civil protests, and high-risk regional emergency deployments (such as natural disaster support).

  • Air Wing: Aviation operations providing tactical aerial surveillance, search and rescue, helicopter rappelling, and ground-vehicle pursuit tracking.

  • Forensics and Local Crime Scene Units: Local scene-of-crime examiners paired with centralized statewide forensic units for high-end homicides and serious crime scenes.

  • Intelligence Analysts: Station and division-level teams (e.g., Geelong Division) executing crime mapping, offender profiling, hot-spot tracking, and behavioral trend analysis (such as identifying peak local family violence dates, including key sporting events like the Bathurst motor race).

  • Water Police and Search & Rescue: Operating out of Williamstown; collaborates with the Coast Guard and deploys statewide for marine and remote land search-and-rescue operations.

  • Highway Patrol: Dedicated $24/7$ traffic enforcement, major road incident control, collision reconstruction, and speed enforcement.

  • Mounted Branch: Specialized equine patrol unit based around horse handling and crowd management.

  • Special Operations Group (SOG) and Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT).

Recruitment and Selection Process

• Eligibility Prerequisites for Sworn Police and PSOs:

  • Minimum age: $18$ years.

  • Citizenship: Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident.

  • Licensing: Current valid driver's license.

• Sequential Recruitment Stages:

  1. Online Application: Submitted via the official Victoria Police Careers portal.

  2. Pre-Qualification Assessment: Automated and recruiter checks on basic eligibility, driving record history, outstanding fines, and preliminary suitability.

  3. Entrance Exam Exemption:

  • Holders of a completed Bachelor's degree receive an automatic exemption from the Victoria Police Entrance Exam.

  • Alternatively, applicants holding a VCE ATAR score of $\ge 65$ or an English study score of $\ge 25$ achieved within the past $5$ years are exempt.

  • Non-exempt applicants must sit the standard exam covering numeracy, literacy, abstract reasoning, and written report writing.

  1. Preliminary Checks: Submission and audit of certified identity documents (birth certificates, citizenship) and formal background/association disclosures.

  2. Psychological and Medical Assessments: Online psychological test suite, medical checkup with a General Practitioner, and formal visual/hearing threshold tests. An official medical eligibility pre-check form is available online for applicant pre-screening.

  3. Physical Fitness Assessment: Conducted at the Glen Waverley Police Academy. Components include:

  • Multi-stage fitness test (Beep test).

  • Agility run.

  • Push-ups performed strictly on toes.

  • Handgrip strength test.

  • Swim Test: $100$\,meters completed within $4$\,minutes (off-site requirement, certified at a local public pool prior to academy testing).

  • Preparation tool: Supported by the official Police Vic Fit application.

  1. Comprehensive Background and Screening: In-depth background vetting, social media audits, character references, and association checks.

  2. Panel Interview: Conducted by two Victoria Police panel members evaluating motivation, situational judgment, and behavioral scenarios.

  3. Holistic Review and Candidate Pool: Final candidate evaluation followed by formal employment offers and squad induction schedules.

• VPS Recruitment Process:

  • Advertised continuously via the Victorian Government Careers website (careers.vic.gov.au).

  • Requires addressing specified Key Selection Criteria (KSC) alongside a professional resume and situational scenarios.

  • Panel interview conducted by the local Unit Supervisor/Senior Sergeant and a Human Resources representative.

Victoria Police Academy Training

• Location: Glen Waverley Academy (located approximately $40$\,kilometers southeast of Melbourne).

• Residential Accommodation: Live-in facilities are provided for recruits whose primary residence is located further than a $40$\,kilometer radius from the academy.

• Course Durations by Pathway:

  • Sworn Police Recruit Training: $25$ weeks (Monday to Friday, $07:30$\,to$15:30$\,schedule).

  • Protective Services Officer (PSO) Training: $12$ weeks.

  • Police Custody Officer (PCO) Training: $8$ weeks.

• Academy Facilities and Training Methodology:

  • Facilities include a $50$\,meter indoor swimming pool, fitness gymnasiums, parade ground, drill hall, and specialized lecture facilities.

  • Features an active Reality-Based Training Scenario Village equipped with mock residential streets and houses for tactical clearance drills, search scenarios, and offender containment practice.

  • Sworn recruit academic outcome: Sworn officers complete a Diploma of Policing, structured across their academy tenure and initial $2$ years of operational field duties.

Individual Career Journeys and Case Studies

• Sergeant Ryan Luscombe:

  • Education: Bachelor of Legal Studies (La Trobe University, now structured as Criminology); Bachelor of Laws (Victoria University).

  • Timeline: Joined sworn police in $2016$; posted to Mill Park for General Duties.

  • Specialist Experience: Served in the Public Order Response Team (PORT). Qualified as a public order instructor via the New South Wales tactical policing program. Deployed for $3$ consecutive weeks ($12$\,hour daily shifts) during the $2019\text{--}2020$ Black Summer Bushfires in Mallacoota (deployed via Sale Air Force Base via military helicopter) to establish road closures, town evacuations, and community support.

  • Prosecutions Experience: Joined Legal Services as a prosecutor in $2020$. Currently serves in the Prosecution Frontline Support Unit, delivering operational advice to detectives, managing charge/brief inquiries, and assisting legislative reform.

• Inspector Natasha Powells:

  • Education: Initial study in Visual Arts at Deakin Warrnambool; currently undertaking a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Deakin University.

  • Timeline: Joined Victoria Police in $1996$ as a non-sworn VPS Brief Clerk (recruited via the hard-copy Government Gazette). Transferred to sworn police in $2000$.

  • Operational History: Initial posting to Melbourne; transferred to Corio Police Station (served across all ranks, including Officer in Charge). Specialized in Family Violence investigations; spent $3$ years on secondment with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) commencing in $2009$ enforcing Commonwealth legislation.

  • Leadership and Senior Roles: Managed Royal Commission engagement in $2015$; promoted to Senior Sergeant in Family Violence; worked in police integrity and oversight in conjunction with the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC); currently Inspector running Legal Services for the Southwest Region.

• Supervising Lawyer Mailee Matthews:

  • Education: Bachelor of Laws (Deakin University Waterfront Campus, Geelong), originating in a Law/Arts double degree.

  • Career Progression: Transitioned from private civil litigation into Victoria Police as a VPS Grade 2 Legal Support Officer. Admitted to legal practice and promoted to Police Lawyer (VPS 3) at Geelong Prosecutions Unit. Promoted to Senior Police Lawyer and Supervisor (VPS 4) at Wyndham/Werribee Prosecutions Unit overseeing Children's Court matters (progressing $3$ classification levels over a $4$-year period).

Questions and Discussion

• Practical Application of Criminology and Law Degrees:

  • University criminology coursework provides fundamental context regarding criminogenic factors, social justice, and systemic recidivism reduction.

  • These theoretical frameworks apply directly inside specialist court settings (such as Children's Court diversion and sentencing options) and everyday policing interactions.

  • Entry into VPS roles serves as an accessible stepping stone to broader public sector, judicial, and law enforcement agency careers.

• Rewarding and Challenging Aspects of Law Enforcement Careers:

  • Rewarding aspects:

  • Assisting vulnerable community members and victims of family violence to build personal autonomy and escape long-term trauma cycles.

  • Delivering crucial emergency logistics, physical safety, and basic supplies to disaster-affected communities (e.g., bushfire emergency response in Mallacoota).

  • Facilitating support access that directly prevents generational criminal behavior.

  • Challenging aspects:

  • Continuous operational exposure to severe trauma, extreme life complexity, and social distress (policing units interact repeatedly with approximately $4BASED$ ($4UPPER$) of the general population).

  • Managing high-stress public crises, such as COVID-19 pandemic operational responses.

  • Navigating contested court hearings as a prosecutor where charges fail to result in convictions despite extensive investigative preparation.