EVERY POLICE INTERACTION SHOULD COME WITH A RECEIPT

A practical Victoria Police reform for accountability, clarity and public trust

When a shop takes your money, you receive a receipt.

When a government department processes an application, you receive a reference number.

When you visit a doctor, attend court or report an insurance claim, a record is created.

But when police stop, search, question, caution or move someone on, the person involved may walk away without anything explaining what happened, why it happened or how to follow it up.

That needs to change.

Victoria should introduce a simple:

POLICE INTERACTION RECEIPT

Whenever Victoria Police formally exercises a power against a person, that person should ordinarily receive a short digital or printed record of the interaction.

This isn’t about making policing impossible.

It isn’t about treating every officer as though they have done something wrong.

It is about creating clarity for everyone involved.

If police action is legitimate, recording its basic details should strengthen that legitimacy—not threaten it.

WHAT WOULD THE RECEIPT INCLUDE?

Depending on the situation, the receipt could record:

• The date, time and location
• The officer’s registered identification number
• The reason for the interaction
• The police power that was exercised
• Whether the person was stopped, searched, questioned, cautioned, arrested or directed to move on
• Whether body-worn video was activated
• Any property seized
• The relevant incident or reference number
• Information about recovering seized property
• The person’s rights and complaint options

The receipt would not reveal confidential intelligence, protected identities or sensitive operational information.

It would simply provide the person with a reliable account of the basic police action taken against them.

THE CURRENT PROBLEM

Police encounters can be stressful, confusing and fast-moving.

A person may not remember an officer’s identification number. They may not properly understand why they were searched. They may forget exactly what was said or have no idea what happened to property taken during the interaction.

If they later want information, legal advice or to make a complaint, they may begin the process without even having a reference number.

Victoria Police currently allows complaints to be submitted directly to police or through the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission. Victoria Police also advises that complaints made to IBAC are often referred back to Victoria Police.

That makes a clear, contemporaneous record especially important.

People should not have to reconstruct a significant police interaction from memory while navigating several different processes.

PROTECTING THE PUBLIC AND THE POLICE

Accountability is sometimes presented as something that works against police.

It shouldn’t.

A Police Interaction Receipt could protect members of the public by giving them an official record of what occurred.

It could also protect officers from false, exaggerated or mistaken allegations.

If someone claims that there was no lawful reason for a search, the receipt would record the reason provided at the time.

If someone alleges that property disappeared, the receipt would list what was seized.

If an officer is wrongly identified, the registered number would help establish who was actually present.

If accounts differ, the reference number could help authorised investigators locate body-worn video and other records.

Good documentation works in both directions.

It gives the public something more reliable than memory and gives responsible officers something stronger than their word alone.

HOW IT COULD WORK

Officers could complete a short standardised form using an existing police-issued device.

The form should be designed to take less than a minute in ordinary circumstances.

The receipt could then be provided through:

• SMS
• Email
• A QR code
• The Service Victoria app
• A small portable printer
• A handwritten receipt when technology is unavailable

People should not be forced to provide their phone number or email address. Anyone who wants to remain anonymous should still be able to receive a paper receipt or reference code.

That code could be entered into a secure public portal where the person could:

• Read an explanation of the relevant police power
• Check the status of seized property
• Request permitted records
• Correct inaccurate personal details
• Provide feedback
• Contact legal or support services
• Make a complaint

One reference number would become the doorway to the whole process.

IMPORTANT SAFEGUARDS

The system would need sensible exceptions.

An officer should never be required to delay emergency action, pursue a fleeing suspect less effectively or place someone in danger simply to generate paperwork.

In emergencies, the receipt could be created after the immediate risk has passed.

There would also need to be protections for family-violence victims, children, witnesses, confidential informants and people whose contact information could expose them to danger.

Every exception should have a reason recorded internally.

That would prevent “operational circumstances” from becoming a blanket excuse for never issuing receipts.

Supervisors could then review patterns such as:

• Officers repeatedly failing to issue receipts
• Unusually high numbers of searches producing no prohibited items
• Repeated use-of-force encounters
• Disproportionate contact with particular communities
• Locations generating unusually high complaint rates
• Recurring failures to activate body-worn cameras

The objective would not be to punish officers automatically.

The data could identify training gaps, unclear laws, poor procedures, emerging community tensions and officers who may need additional supervision.

START WITH A PILOT PROGRAM

Victoria would not need to introduce the system across the entire state overnight.

A 12-month pilot could operate in several carefully selected locations:

• One inner-Melbourne police service area
• One outer-suburban growth area
• One major regional centre
• One location with a significant nightlife precinct
• One area with diverse cultural and language needs

The pilot should be independently evaluated.

The evaluation should measure:

• Time required to issue each receipt
• Effects on frontline workload
• Public understanding of police interactions
• Complaint numbers and resolution times
• Officer feedback
• Community feedback
• Whether receipts reduce factual disputes
• Whether recorded patterns improve training and supervision

If it creates unnecessary paperwork, simplify it.

If it improves accountability and saves time later, expand it.

That is what genuine reform should look like: propose, test, measure, improve.

WHY THIS REFORM FITS VICTORIA POLICE’S OWN DIRECTION

Victoria Police’s 2026–27 Corporate Plan says the organisation wants to reduce barriers that take police away from frontline duties, improve its service, invest in technology and build community trust.

A well-designed receipt system supports those goals.

It would create more consistent records, make follow-up processes easier and help resolve disputes before they become lengthy complaints.

Most importantly, it would turn accountability into a normal part of professional policing rather than something that only appears after an allegation has been made.

A SMALL DOCUMENT WITH A BIG PURPOSE

A Police Interaction Receipt will not solve every problem involving policing.

It will not remove every disagreement.

It will not magically create trust where trust has already been damaged.

But it would establish a simple principle:

When the state exercises power over a person, that person deserves a basic record of what was done and why.

That is not anti-police.

It is pro-accountability, pro-professionalism and pro-trust.

Police officers are entrusted with extraordinary powers because society needs them to perform an extraordinarily difficult job.

Clear documentation honours both sides of that responsibility.

The public should know why police power was exercised.

Police should have a reliable record showing how it was exercised.

One interaction.

One reference number.

One receipt.

A small piece of paper—or a simple digital record—that says:

This happened. This is why. This is who was responsible. And this is what you can do next.