They are leaving information on whiteboards, failing to lock cabinets or secure rooms holding classified documents and routinely leaving sensitive files unattended on desks and computer screens.
An internal analysis of the force's information security reveals that mishandling of private and sensitive documents is rife.
A review by Law Enforcement Data Security Commissioner David Watts found that police breach security rules up to 750,000 times a year.
Mr Watts said the force-wide survey revealed a significant lack of expertise on security issues among force supervisors and managers.
It comes after Chief Commissioner Ken Lay admitted the lives of informers and officers were at risk after police raids discovered volumes of confidential police files allegedly stolen by a corrupt cop and given to outlaw bikies.
The Herald Sun revealed last year at least one dishonest cop a week is still caught snooping or passing on police secrets, more than a decade after the force was first thrown into crisis over the improper use of people's personal information.
Commissioner Watts' survey found security breaches are so routine that most of them go unreported.
"When the incidence of information security breaches reported by respondents is extrapolated across the force on a yearly basis, the results indicate significant numbers of simple security breaches go unreported," Mr Watts said.
"This suggests that such breaches are simply accepted as routine and is indicative of the lack of an effective information security culture within Victoria Police."
More than half the officers surveyed said they relied on common sense rather than police policy when using private or sensitive information.
Officers told Commissioner Watts that they saw police colleagues breach security protocols in their work units an average of 60 times a year each - or up to 750,000 times across the entire force.
A third of the reported breaches involved officers leaving documents unattended on desks, a quarter were cases of information left on computer screens, while more than one in five involved information left on whiteboards.
One in six were instances of cabinets containing classified information being left unlocked, and more than one in nine concerned officers failing to lock doors to secure areas.
Use of private technology was also identified as a growing risk.
Mr Watts said widespread use of personal devices meant that significant quantities of law enforcement data were not being included in official Victoria Police data repositories and were being kept insecurely.
"The practice of using personal devices for operational policing is largely unmanaged and uncontrolled and poses significant information management and security risks," he said.
The survey found three in four police use unsecure private phones, laptops, desk computers, digital cameras or storage devices at least weekly for work. A third store police information on personal memory sticks at least weekly.
The main reasons for using personal equipment were that equipment is not provided by the force or is out-dated, unreliable or not working.
"It follows that Victoria Police should significantly strengthen its investment in information management and security training, education and awareness."
The acting director of the force's information management standards and security division, Supt Steve Gleeson, said ensuring all employees understand the critical importance of managing our law enforcement data in a secure way was one of the force's highest priorities.
"We are working closely with the Commissioner for Law Enforcement Data Security to continue to address issues around information management and security," he said.
"We are also taking a long-term approach to changing the attitudes and behaviours of our employees through the development of a comprehensive information management and security cultural change plan."
news.com.au 19 May 2013
Another case of 'corporate fraud'.
The police realistically cannot be trusted.
The police have been set up by the government in Australia, as a revenue collection corporation. This information is being kept strictly under wraps, but is well known in certain circles.
There are no fines or infringement notices or court cases relating to breaches of privacy by police, where if an individual commits a similar offense, they are incarcerated.
Excuses are given by authorities, and allegedly 'training' is needed, which at the end of the day is a huge farce
Government and corporate fraud and corruption are the most destructive forces of society, and realistically the most dominant.
Police also sell information to criminal gangs.
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