Police Act 1990

A police officer who has reasonable grounds to suspect that another police officer has engaged in police misconduct or serious maladministration is under a duty to report that police misconduct or maladministration or alleged misconduct or maladministration in writing to another police officer who is of the rank of sergeant or above and is more senior in rank than the police officer with a duty to report (a senior police officer).

The senior police officer to whom a report is made must report it in writing promptly to the Commissioner (or a police officer nominated by the Commissioner for the purposes of this section) if the senior police officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that the conduct (or alleged conduct)—

constitutes (or would constitute) a criminal offence or is (or could be) other police misconduct or serious maladministration, or

could provide sufficient grounds—

for taking dismissal action against a probationary police officer under section 80 (3), or

for taking reviewable action under section 173 or making an order under section 181D.

An administrative employee who has reasonable grounds to suspect that a police officer has engaged in police misconduct or serious maladministration is under a duty to report that police misconduct or maladministration or alleged misconduct or maladministration in writing to a police officer who is of or above the rank of sergeant.

A police officer to whom a report is made under subsection (3) must report it in writing promptly to the Commissioner (or a police officer nominated by the Commissioner for the purposes of this section) if the police officer has reasonable grounds to suspect the conduct or alleged conduct is of a kind described in subsection (2) (a) or (b).

This section does not apply to misconduct or maladministration or alleged misconduct or maladministration—

that has been the subject of a misconduct matter received by the LECC under the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission Act 2016 or the Commissioner under Part 8A or of which the LECC or the Commissioner is already aware, or

that has been the subject of evidence or other material given, or submissions made, in the course of criminal proceedings, or

that has already been reported under this section to a senior police officer, or

that has been the subject of a voluntary public interest disclosure within the meaning of the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2022.

A report must be provided in accordance with this section despite any prohibition in, or any requirement of, any Act or law (in particular, the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002) but only if it contains information that is relevant to the officer misconduct or serious maladministration concerned.

An expression used in this section which is defined in the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission Act 2016 has the meaning it has in that Act.