Victoria Police has suspended an officer over an “appalling” privacy breach after he allegedly shared unauthorised images of former AFL coach Dean Laidley in custody inside a police station.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said it was expected the officer would also be hit with criminal charges over the incident.

The photos were taken of former North Melbourne AFL coach Dean Laidley, who was remanded in custody over the weekend on allegations of stalking as well as other charges.

The 53-year-old from Moonee Ponds was arrested on Saturday night after an incident outside a St Kilda home about 9:00pm.

The 1996 North Melbourne premiership player faced Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Sunday.

The father of three did not apply for bail and remained in custody on Sunday evening.

Photo allegedly shared in WhatsApp group

Deputy Commissioner Patton said a male senior constable had been suspended with pay for allegedly taking the photos, which could constitute a breach of the Victoria Police Act for the unauthorised disclosure of information.

“It is expected he will be charged in due course,” Deputy Commissioner Patton said.

“He will also be subject to internal disciplinary action.”

Deputy Commissioner Patton said the criminal charge allows for penalties of up to two years in jail or close to $40,000 in fines, while the internal investigation could result in the officer being fined, demoted or sacked.

He said he was “appalled” that a Victoria Police officer had taken the photos.

“It’s not an authorised photograph and should not have been taken,” he said.

“It’s unacceptable conduct.

At a press conference this afternoon, Deputy Commissioner Patton said the senior constable had only recently been interviewed and it was still unclear exactly how many officers were involved.

He said he believed the photograph was shared on WhatsApp but it was unclear how the photos came to be on social media.

“It could be around six [people] that have had the photograph disseminated to them,” he said.

“We’ll continue that investigation. It is early days yet.”

Victoria Police apologises for ‘appalling’ breach of privacy

He said it was not clear whether the people who received the photos on WhatsApp were police members or civilians.

“That’s why we’re interrogating his phones,” he said.

“The investigation will explore who has committed any criminal offence in terms of forwarding or accessing information.

“If other [Victoria Police] members have, if you like, disseminated unauthorised information then they will potentially be facing exactly the same charges as this senior constable is.”

Deputy Commissioner Patton also apologised on behalf of the police force.

“The photograph has been taken inside a custody area, I understand, inside a police station,” he said.

“It’s not an authorised photograph and should not have been taken.

“Clearly we have let down that person who those photos were taken of. We’ve breached their privacy and I do apologise on behalf of Victoria Police.”

He said it was “one of the most appalling breaches” by an officer that he could remember.

“I cannot recall a breach of someone’s privacy like this, an individual when they’re in custody,” he said.

“It’s unlawful and criminal conduct and that’s the way we’re treating it.”

A police spokeswoman earlier said the Professional Standards Command had begun a “thorough investigation” into the photos and would be “looking at all aspects of the matter”.

“This is one of the most significant breaches of a person’s privacy and Victoria Police will not tolerate this sort of behaviour,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.

The matter has also been referred to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC), Deputy Commissioner Patton said.

Lawyer ‘outraged’ over photos of client

Mr Laidley’s lawyer Dee Giannopolous wrote about the images on Sunday night, saying on Twitter she was “outraged” pictures of her client were allegedly “taken by some police officer, on the sly, when in custody in interview”.

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The director of the legal firm, Bill Doogue, described the apparent leak as “disgraceful”.

“Taking photos unlawfully and sharing them. And these were sneaky photos while in [a] police interview in [a] police station by a police officer,” he said.

“Police should investigate and those involved pull [the images] down immediately.”

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Mr Laidley played for the West Coast Eagles from 1987 to 1992 and North Melbourne between 1993 and 1997.

He was the senior coach at North Melbourne from 2003 to 2009 before holding assistant coaching roles at Port Adelaide, St Kilda and Carlton.

He finished his last AFL coaching role at the end of the 2015 season.

He is due to face court again on May 11.

AAP/ABC

Victoria Police has suspended two more police officers over the leak of unauthorised photos of former AFL player and coach Dean Laidley in custody inside a police station.

It follows the suspension of two other officers earlier this week over an “appalling” privacy breach after unauthorised images were shared of the former North Melbourne player and coach in custody inside St Kilda police station.

The photos were taken when Laidley was in police custody last weekend on allegations of stalking, as well as other charges.

The 53-year-old from Moonee Ponds was arrested on Saturday night after an incident outside a St Kilda home about 9:00pm.

In a statement, police said Professional Standards Command had “suspended two further Victoria Police employees in relation to photos circulating on social media of a person who was in custody at a police station in Victoria”.

The two male senior constables are from the southern metropolitan region and are expected to be charged with a breach under section 227 of the Victoria Police Act, which is unauthorised disclosure of information.

There have now been four police officers suspended as part of the investigation.

Police said as the investigation was ongoing, there would be no further comment.

Independent oversight of police probe

Meanwhile, Victoria’s corruption watchdog said it would oversee the Victoria Police investigation into the “serious privacy breach”.

Victoria’s independent police oversight agency, IBAC, said the scope of Victoria Police’s investigation would address issues the watchdog considered necessary to restore public confidence and prevent future breaches.

The police investigation will examine the number of officers involved in taking the initial photographs and the conduct of any other officers who were present and aware of the behaviour.

It will also probe how other officers received the photographs and responded to them, including whether they further distributed the images.

IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich said the community was right to expect that police always conducted themselves in accordance with the law.

“This must include ensuring that people’s privacy is appropriately protected at all times,” Commissioner Redlich said.

“Importantly, Victoria Police has confirmed they are looking at any underlying cultural issues, and how they can build on their work with the LGBTIQ community and ensure their officers have proper regard to human rights.

“Addressing any such cultural issues and improving police training will be fundamental to ensuring this type of behaviour is simply not tolerated and doesn’t happen again.”

Top cop’s ‘sense of shame’

Earlier on Friday, Victoria’s Chief Police Commissioner, Graham Ashton, said he felt ashamed of the force when he learnt the photo of Mr Laidley had been leaked in an act of “immaturity and gross stupidity”.

“I was firstly very angry when I first heard about it, because [it was] on a day when we should have been paying our respects to a fallen police hero, Josh Prestney,” the Chief Commissioner said referring to the funeral of one of four police officers killed in a truck crash on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway last month.

Mr Ashton said while Constable Prestney’s parents did not raise the incident with him at the funeral on Monday, “there was a sense of shame that I felt that someone in the force had done that on a day that we should have been honouring a police hero”.

He said it was clear “a lot of people” in the force had received the messages, and detectives were in the process of determining how widely it was shared.

Veteran AFL journalist Mike Sheahan claims he’s known Dean Laidley has liked to dress in women’s clothing for over a decade, but says there was never any grounds for him, or anyone in the media, to report it.

Laidley, 53, was photographed wearing a long blonde wig and a dress after his arrest outside a home in St Kilda on Saturday night.

Two senior Victorian constables this week were suspended over the leaked pictures of Laidley inside a Melbourne police station, with both likely to be charged with accessing police information without authorisation.

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Asked by Hawthorn legend Don Scott on the You Cannot Be Serious podcast whether he’d previously known Laidley enjoyed dressing in women’s clothing — and how long he’d known for — Sheahan said: “Yep … I’m guessing maybe 10 to 12 years.”

Scott then questioned why Sheahan, with that knowledge, didn’t further investigate or write about it when he was a full-time reporter.

Sheahan, the former chief football writer of the Herald Sun, replied: “Why should I have written something about a bloke who’s got a bent about what clothes he wears in private?

“Is that in the public interest in it?”

Sheahan said Laidley’s attire choices were only of interest to the public now because he’d been charged by police and the photos of him had been released.

“It’s sad isn’t it … (but) it’s not about being a cross-dresser, he’s facing serious criminal charges,” Sheahan said.

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“His situation is sad. But the issue about whether he’s a cross-dresser – and it was 10 or 12 years ago – if he’s not breaking any law … why would you write about it? And how is it in the public interest?”

Deputy Police Commissioner Shane Patton said on Monday that six police officers were sent the photos via WhatsApp and they could face charges if it’s found they disseminated them further.

The dissemination of the pictures of Laidley in the station’s interview room was an “appalling” act, Mr Patton said.

Laidley is facing stalking and other charges. He remains in custody until May 11 after not applying for bail.

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights said the behaviour of the officers who distributed the photos was alarming and it was an opportunity for Victoria Police to further support the trans and gender diverse community.

“The act of a police officer secretly taking a photograph of an accused person while the person is in custody is extremely dangerous,” ALHR President Kerry Weste said in a statement.

“It damages trust and confidence in the Victoria Police and it damages the community’s faith in the rule of law.”

— with AAP

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.

The 53-year-old was arrested on Saturday night outside a home in St Kilda and was charged with stalking and other offences.

But his mug shot and a photo of him in a long blonde wig and wearing a dress, taken inside a police station, were leaked.

“Disgraceful. Taking photos unlawfully and sharing them. And these were sneaky photos while in Police interview in Police Station by a Police Officer,” one of his lawyers, Bill Doogue, tweeted.

“Police should investigate and those involved pull down immediately.” Victoria Police are investigating the dissemination of the images. Laidley, a 1996 premiership winner and later coach with the Kangaroos, faced Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Sunday and will remain in custody until May 11 after not applying for bail.