New calls to dump Victorian police watchdog

TWO former senior Victorian police officers have joined calls to dump OPI.

TWO former senior Victorian police officers have joined calls to dump OPI

The former officers, who were targets of failed OPI probes,  made the call following a scandal involving secret files.

The Office of Police Integrity has again been forced to defend its future after the discovery of its "sensitive" files in a house during a major drug raid.

A former OPI head of intelligence and phone tapping is now being investigated by Victoria Police over whether she stole the documents found in the garage of the alleged drug dealer's house in Melbourne's north.

Authorities say the documents -- which also included an ASIO job application and files from the Western Australian Anti-Corruption Commission -- would not compromise any member of police or the public.

But the opposition, the police association and legal experts say it is the final straw and the OPI needs to be dumped.

Former police union chief Paul Mullett and former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby have also called for an end to the body as well as an independent inquiry.

Mr Mullett said the breach was typical of the "carelessness and disregard" with which the OPI treated sensitive information.

"There now needs to be a full, open and independent inquiry into the OPI," he told The Australian. "You can't have the OPI being investigated by Simon Overland's Victoria Police . . . they just protect each other.

"The OPI treats telephone intercept information with absolute disregard," said Mr Mullett, whose reputation was damaged by the OPI's decision to reveal telephone recordings of Mr Mullett during public hearings in 2007.

Mr Ashby said the OPI has "demonstrated that they use dishonest practices and that they cannot be trusted with confidential information".

"They seem to forget that they are dealing with people's lives," he said.