Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland has defended his crackdown against the circulation of racist and pornographic emails among officers.

About 100 officers are being investigated for the alleged mis-use of the police email system – one of whom was a sergeant who took his own life in Healesville on Monday.

The Police Association says Mr Overland’s approach assumes targeted officers are guilty, but Mr Overland says that is just spin and he has had to take strong and decisive action over the matter.

“This is about maintaining the confidence of the Victorian community in Victoria Police,” he said.

“How can a community have confidence in this organisation if we allow racist, sexist, pornographic material to circulate freely around the organisation? We can’t do it.”

Commissioner Overland says the emails distributed on the Victoria Police email system are “disturbing, offensive and gross”.

“There are quite a large number of police officers who have become involved. They won’t all face dismissal. But it is quite widespread,” he said.

Commissioner Overland will not describe the emails, but says they do not contain any illegal material.

But he says they do include racism and pornography and the Police Ethical Standards Department has been investigating the matter for months.

“The material we’re talking about, I believe, is highly offensive and would shock the community,” he said.

“There are various and varying degrees of involvement and we’ll need to treat each case on its merits.”

Culture of racism?

News of the emails comes just a week after a report by community lawyers detailed allegations from members of Melbourne’s African community of police abuse and assault.

Melbourne University’s Dr Yin Paradies is an expert in the effects of racism. He says the revelation about the racist emails could be seen as more evidence of a culture of racism in the police force.

“We want a police force that’s impartial and that treats people from every ethnic and racial group fairly,” he said.

He says the way the news of this scandal is received by the public could have the potential to undermine good police work.

“And it would have the potential to undermine trust in the police force and respect for police and the integrity of their work,” he said.

The spotlight has also turned to how Commissioner Overland is handling the matter.

He has issued two senior officers with what is known as a section 68, which demands that they justify why they should be allowed to keep their jobs.

Head of the Police Association Greg Davies says it is not fair.

“It sounds a little like the judge is passing sentencing without hearing any evidence,” he said.

Senior Sergeant Davies says it is a guilty-until-proven-innocent approach and it shows the Chief Commissioner has too much discretion.

“We’re talking now about career police officers who can’t just walk down the street to the next police factory and sign on for more work,” he said.

“If it’s a one-off incident of a minor nature we don’t think that they should be automatically told they’re going to be dismissed, unless they can convince the Chief Commissioner otherwise.”

A woman who phoned ABC local radio in Melbourne today went further. She says her husband worked with the sergeant who shot himself at Healesville Police Station this week.

“He was given the letter. Now it was made very clear to … all the police officers within the eastern region. A meeting was held with senior inspectors and it was very clear to this deceased officer that he could either resign with his benefits or he’d be sacked without them,” the caller said.

But Commissioner Overland says the investigation has not been heavy-handed.

“I understand that I have very clear responsibilities around the use of these powers; that if I misuse these powers or don’t use them in an appropriate way it won’t survive appeal and will be overturned,” he said.

“I think there are appropriate safeguards in place. This is not action that I’ve taken lightly and I never take this action lightly. But I think in the circumstances it was appropriate.”

And he has the backing of Victorian Premier John Brumby.