A second Victorian police officer is expected to be charged over leaked photos of former AFL player and coach Dean Laidley taken while he was in police custody.
Laidley, a former premiership-winning North Melbourne player and later coach, was arrested on stalking and other charges after an incident outside a home in St Kilda on Saturday night.
The 53-year-old faced the Melbourne magistrates’ court on Sunday and did not apply for bail. He was remanded in custody until his next court appearance on 11 May.
But police in Victoria have been scrambling to head off a potential civil lawsuit after the leak of photos of Laidley, taken while he was in custody. An internal investigation was launched over the weekend, with deputy commissioner Shane Patton describing the leak as “appalling” and “unacceptable”.
The two photos include one from Laidley’s official police file and another of him wearing a long blonde wig and a dress inside the custody area of a Melbourne police station.
The images subsequently appeared on the front page of the West Australian and Herald Sun newspapers on Monday, and in other News Corp papers the next day.
A senior constable from the southern metro region was suspended on Monday for taking the photos and sharing them with about six other people via Whatsapp.
On Tuesday night Victoria police said a second officer, also a senior constable, had been suspended “in relation to photos circulating on social media of a person who was in custody at a police station in Victoria”.
Both officers are expected to be formally charged under section 227 of the Victorian Police Act, which punishes the unauthorised access to, use or disclosure of police information by officers. The offence carries a penalty of up to two years in prison or a fine of up to $39,652.
The leak has prompted outrage among the legal profession and civil rights groups. On Wednesday the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission called on Victoria police to investigate not just the individual officers but also the “underlying cultural issues that allowed such an incident to arise”.
A 2019 report by the commission into the experiences of LGBTIQ employees within Victoria police identified “a hypermasculine and heteronormative culture that normalises transphobic and homophobic attitudes” within the organisation.
Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights commissioner Kristen Hilton said while Victoria police had taken steps to improve its relationship with the LGBTIQ community, incidents such as the leaked photographs of Laidley “cause incredible distress and concern” to members of that community.
“This is a deplorable breach of an individual’s right to privacy by a public institution that is expected to uphold the highest standards of integrity,” Hilton said.
“Victoria police plays a vital role in assuring the safety of the Victorian community – but they can only succeed in that role if their conduct inspires public confidence and reassures Victorians of their commitment to fair and equal treatment for all.
“Every individual should expect the right to not have their private lives, their family, home or personal information, interfered with. It’s clear that that right has not been upheld in this instance.”
On Monday Patton apologised on behalf of the force, saying, “clearly, we have let down that person”.
“We’ve breached their privacy and I do apologise on behalf of Victoria police,” he said.