More than 1000 police officers wrongly sworn due to 'administrative error'

Addressing media Thursday morning, Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said between July 2014 and August of last year, deputy commissioners appointed acting assistant commissioners without the required powers.

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Those acting assistant commissioners swore in a number of graduating police officers.

However, under changes to the Victoria Police Act in 2013, acting assistant commissioners needed to be appointed by the chief police commissioner or a deputy commissioner who had been delegated the authority.

Due to this error, Victoria Police has identified 1076 police officers have been wrongly sworn in by acting assistant commissioners.

A further 157 protective service officers and 29 police custody officers were also wrongly sworn in.

Chief Commissioner Patton said over the next couple of hours, days and weeks, officers would need to be sworn in again.

"We are working closely with government to address this oversight and remediate it as best we can," he said.

"It's an oversight, it's an administrative oversight."

Police Minister Lisa Neville said the force had received legal advice that the problem could be rectified retrospectively with the new legislation.

"My priority and the priority of the government is now to fix this issue, to do so with retrospective legislation, to get it through as quickly as possible," Ms Neville said.

Ms Neville said the advice she received was that it would not undermine any criminal cases going through the courts.

"We've acted swiftly to address the issue after it was uncovered by Victoria Police last week and confirmed by legal advice in recent days," she said.

"We'll continue working closely with Victoria Police to ensure the work of officers in keeping us safe is uninterrupted."

In a statement, the Police Association Victoria said they were aware of the "unintended and highly technical administrative error" that led to issues over the legitimacy of the sworn status police members.

"We understand that Victoria Police will move decisively and quickly to remedy this situation so that our members can get back to doing what they do best, looking after the community," the statement said.

"We will support the members impacted in any way we can and ensure that their legal and industrial rights are protected, as this issue is rectified."

IBAC and the Director of Public Prosecutions have been notified.

- AAP

More to come.

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