Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian state of Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the Victoria Police Act 2013.
As of June 2023, Victoria Police has 21,326 staff, comprising 15,842 police officers, 1,412 Protective Services Officers, 346 Police Custody Officers and 216 Police Recruits in training, 2 reservists and 3,507 Victorian Public Service (VPS) employees across 333 police stations. Victoria Police's budget for 2023–2024 is A$4.13 billion.
Between 31 July 2018 and 18 July 2019, Victoria Police recorded 514,398 offences, an increase of 1.5% from the previous year. Victoria Police also responded to 897,016 emergency calls, a reduction of 0.3% from previous year.
A couple of years after the first Europeans settled there, in September 1836 the area around Melbourne, known as the District of Port Phillip, became part of the colony of New South Wales. From 1851 until 1901 it became the Colony of Victoria, with its own government within the British Empire. In 1901 it became a state of the new Commonwealth of Australia.
The early settlers of Melbourne provided their own police force, and in 1840 there were 12 constables who were paid two shillings and nine pence per day, and the chief constable was Mr. W (Tulip) Wright. Charles Brodie followed Wright as chief constable in 1842 and was succeeded by W. J. Sugden, who held the positions of 'town chief constable' and superintendent of the local fire brigade. By 1847, there were police in 'country centres', and the Melbourne force was composed of 'one chief officer, four sergeants, and 20 petty constables'. There was also 'a force of 28 mounted natives' enlisted and trained by DeVilliers and, later, Captain Pulteney Dana.
The Snodgrass Committee was established in early 1852 to "identify the policing needs of the colony", and, following the committee's report in September 1852, the Victoria Police was formally established on 8 January 1853 from an existing colonial police force of 875 men. Later that month, William Henry Fancourt Mitchell was 'gazetted as Chief Commissioner of Police for the Colony of Victoria'.
In 1853, Victoria Police was the first police organisation in Australia who merged all its police entities into one organisation under Victoria Police Chief Commissioner William Mitchell. Victoria continues to be the only state in Australia with a Chief Commissioner of Police.
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 where some miners (mostly Irish), police and soldiers were killed. From a report at the time: 'the troops and Police were under arms, and just at the first blush of dawn they marched upon the camp at Eureka'.
Mitchell resigned as Chief Commissioner, and Charles MacMahon was appointed acting chief commissioner that same year. After the formation of the Victorian Police, the first recorded death on duty was Edward Gray in 1853, followed by William Hogan in 1854, both of drowning.
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.
Six years later, three more officers (Kennedy, Lonigan and Scanlan) who were hunting the Kelly Gang, were killed by them at Stringybark Creek. Two years later, in 1880, the police confronted the Kelly Gang at Glenrowan. A shoot-out ensued on 28 June, during which three members of the Kelly Gang were killed and following which Ned Kelly was shot and captured.
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.
In October 1917, Victoria Police appointed Madge Connor as a 'police agent'—while not a full sworn officer, Connor was the first woman to be made a member of a police service in Victoria, and was one of four women to be sworn in as officers in 1924, after she led a successful campaign for equal pay and status within the force.
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 central business district. The Victorian government enlisted special constables, and the Commonwealth of Australia called out the Australian military. Victoria Police are the only Australian Police Service to ever go on strike.
Only a few of the strikers were ever employed as policemen again, but 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%. Their union, Police Association Victoria, remains a very powerful industrial and political force in Victoria.