Privacy

Protecting your privacy

Modern information and communication technologies play a fundamental role in our activities. Protecting your privacy is an important aspect of the way Victoria Police creates, organises and implements activities online.

Victoria Police is bound by the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 in how it manages personal information, and the Health Records Act 2001 in how it manages health information.

We are committed to protecting the personal and health information of the persons with whom it interacts within the course of its functions and activities.

You should be aware that there are risks in transmitting information across the Internet. If you are concerned about conveying sensitive material to Victoria Police over the Internet, you might prefer to contact us by telephone or mail.

Collection through information you choose to give us

We may collect personal information that you choose to give us, or which may be required to access a particular service.

Privacy notices for specific police.vic.gov.au websites

By using our Online Reporting and/or Police Assistance Line, you are consenting to us collecting your information for law enforcement functions and activities.
What information do we collect, use and disclose?
The personal, sensitive or health information we collect, use and may disclose includes, but is not limited to your name, address, details of any crimes reported and victim/witness details.
The information you provide will be collected by a third party on behalf of Victoria Police.
The information will be forwarded to the responsible area within Victoria Police and your information will be handled in accordance with the Victoria Police Policies. Your privacy will be handled in accordance with Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014.
If you fail to provide Victoria Police with your information, we may not be able to action the matter you are reporting.
We will only record your e-mail address if you send us a message. Your details will not be added to a mailing list, unless you consent.
We will not use your personal information for any other purpose or disclose it, without your consent, other than as specifically provided for in privacy legislation (e.g. unlawful activity, to protect life or where otherwise required by law, such as to a court of law).
To opt-out of future contact
When using our Online Reporting and/or Police Assistance Line, you may be asked for consent to being contacted by Victoria Police, or a third party on behalf of Victoria Police, for further feedback.
This could include contact for market research purposes to inform improvements to the services and guide public communications (e.g. TV advertising, media releases etc.) related to the services.
If you consented to providing further feedback, but would like to opt out, you can do so by emailing OLR-FEEDBACKOPTOUT-MGR@police.vic.gov.au.
By subscribing to the POLICE FIT app, you are consenting to Victoria Police collecting the personal details you provide upon sign up. This information includes, but not limited to name, email, age or gender.
What information do we collect, use and disclose?
This information may be used for marketing purposes, including but not limited to, Victoria Police recruitment, Victoria Police events, POLICE FIT app updates and changes.
The information you provide upon sign up can be viewed in your profile on the POLICE FIT app.
The POLICE FIT app uses web analytics. More information can be seen below under ‘Use of web analytics data’.
Victoria Police is required to comply with the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014.
To opt out of receiving marketing material please email the Victoria Police Recruitment Team at POLICECAREERS-MGR@police.vic.gov.au.
STOPIT is a discrete text-based service that allows public transport commuters to notify us of non-emergency, unwanted and anti-social behaviours that they have experienced and/or witnessed while travelling on public transport.
What information does STOPIT collect, use, disclose and why?
The STOPIT service automatically records the user’s mobile phone number and details they choose to provide including:
- name
- gender
- incident details (eg when and where the incident occurred)
We may use and disclose personal and/or sensitive information collected via the service in the course of preventing, carrying out investigations and law enforcement purposes.
How is my privacy protected?
There are specific legislative requirements to ensure people who are authorised to access information in STOPIT are doing so in an appropriate manner. There are offences and strict penalties under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) for improper use or disclosure of information contained in STOPIT.
How can I correct a record in STOPIT if I believe it is incorrect?
If you become aware of an error in a particular STOPIT notification submission, please contact stopit@police.vic.gov.au.
Victoria Police uses MailChimp to provide electronic newsletters (Police Life Magazine) to subscribers.
What information do we collect, use and disclose?
In distributing newsletters, MailChimp will collect personal information from you, including email addresses you have provided to Victoria Police for the purpose of receiving electronic newsletters, and all information relating to those email addresses.
MailChimp also uses cookies, web beacons and Flash player codes to collect information about:
- when you access the Victoria Police electronic newsletters
- your browser type and version
- your operating system and other similar information.
For more information on the information MailChimp will collect, please refer to the MailChimp’s Privacy Policy and the MailChimp Terms of Use.
MailChimp may transfer information to its contractors or other third parties who process the information on MailChimp’s behalf, or where otherwise required to do so by law.
MailChimp is based in the United States of America (USA) and is subject to the laws of the USA. Your information (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by MailChimp on servers located outside Australia.
By signing up to electronic newsletters about visitor events, products and programs at Victoria Police, you:
- consent to your personal information being collected, used and disclosed as set out in these terms and conditions, and in MailChimp’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
- consent to your personal information being sent and stored overseas
- acknowledge that MailChimp is not subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and you will not be able to seek redress under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) for any privacy breaches by MailChimp but will need to seek redress under the laws of the USA.
You can unsubscribe from the Victoria Police electronic newsletter at any time by selecting the “unsubscribe” option in any email sent to you by MailChimp.
If you have any questions or concerns relating to the use of your personal data please contact policelife-mgr@police.vic.gov.au.

Automatic collection through the website

Personal information can be automatically collected as a result of your visit to our website, using software techniques such as web server log file analysis, cookies and web beacons.

Use of cookies and advertising features

We use Google Analytics cookies and advertising features to collect information about visitors to this website for reporting, marketing and remarketing purposes.

A cookie is a block of data that is shared between a web server and a user's browser.

Cookies track how visitors interact with our website, including where they came from, what they did on the site and whether they completed any transactions.

Cookies can also be used to target content variations to a user. A content experiment cookie determines a user's participation in an experiment in order to improve website performance and visitor experience.

Our website also contains Google remarketing code, also known as a tag or pixel. This code adds visitors to our remarketing audiences through browser cookies.

When you look at this web site the cookie and/or our Internet Service Provider (ISP) makes a record of your visit. The following information is then logged for statistical purposes:

user's server address
user's top level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au etc)
date and time of visit to the site
pages accessed and documents downloaded
previous site visited, and
type of browser used

Read more about Google's privacy policy.

Automatic collection by third party software vendors

We use some third-party software providers to collect information about your interactions with our website to help us improve our website performance, content, and user experience.

For more information about our third party vendor’s terms of service, visit:

Use and disclosure

Use of web analytics data

We use web analytics data to:

analyse, measure, and report on website traffic and visit data in order to improve our website performance, content
optimise and personalise user experiences
create and serve relevant content to Remarketing Audiences based on specific behaviour, demographic, and interest data, and share those lists with Google Ads
conduct security audits to protect against threats from hackers or other security purposes when required.

We do not use this information to identify you or match it with any other personal information that we may collect from you, unless required to do so as part of an internal investigation or for a law enforcement-related purpose, in accordance with the PDP Act.

Your site visit data is collected under the authority of Information Privacy Principle 1.1 of the PDP Act for the purposes stated above.

Can I opt out of the collection of web analytics data?

You cannot opt out of the automatic collection of information that is used for analytical purposes, however you may choose to disable cookies or delete any individual cookie.

Disabling cookies may result in our website not functioning fully and compromise your ability to browse, read, and download information. In this instance, our services may still be accessed by contacting us via other methods such as telephone or mail.

To opt-out of the tracking and website analytics features we use, visit Google Analytics' opt-outs for the web.

You can also opt out of our third-party vendor's use of cookies by changing your device’s settings.

Disclosure of web analytics data

Apart from the third party tools described in this Privacy Statement, we do not disclose your site visit data to any other third parties without your consent, unless we are required or authorised to do so by law.

No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities except in the unlikely event of an investigation, when Victoria Police or other law enforcement body may examine the Internet Service Provider's logs (e.g. in relation to hacking or abusive messages).

Security of your personal information

We have taken all reasonable steps to implement technology and security policies, rules and measures to protect the personal and health information that we have under our control from unauthorised access, improper use, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction and accidental loss. These steps provide a high level of protection within the limits of available technology. We will remove personal information from our system where it is no longer required (except where archiving is required).

This privacy statement does not extend beyond this website and the Victoria Police Online Reporting platform. When visiting a site linked to from this web site, we recommend that you read the privacy statement of that site.

Victoria Police Information Privacy Statement

PDF 140.72 KB

Victoria Police Health Information Statement

PDF 90.49 KB

Privacy Complaints form

PDF 62.54 KB

Access or correction

Individuals can request access to the personal and health information Victoria Police holds about them. If individuals believe the personal and health information is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date the individual is entitled to request that it be corrected. There may be circumstances where access to information cannot be granted as it may compromise the privacy of another individual.

All access should be sought through the Freedom of Information Act 1982 by contacting the Freedom of Information Unit at Victoria Police at:

Victoria Police Freedom of Information Unit
Box 913
Docklands Vic 3008
Telephone: (03) 9247 6801
Email: foi@police.vic.gov.au

Enquiries

Any enquiries regarding the attached Privacy Statements or the Victoria Police Privacy Policy should be directed to the Victoria Police Privacy Unit.

The Privacy Unit can be contacted at:

Mail:
Victoria Police Privacy Unit
Box 913
Docklands VIC 3008
Email: privacy@police.vic.gov.au

About us

Updated 26 June 2024