An ill-advised interstate helicopter trip will likely hamper a top cop's efforts to turn around his embattled state police force, a leading lawyer says.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush apologised for using a force chopper to travel from Melbourne to Hobart on Monday for a meeting with his national and trans-Tasman counterparts.
The Kiwi insisted the trip on a back-up chopper did not risk public safety or burden taxpayers with extra operating costs but admitted his reasons for taking it "don’t stack".
"This doesn't pass the pub test and I’m particularly concerned about what the public think of the Victoria Police," he told reporters in Hobart before returning to Melbourne on a commercial flight on Wednesday evening.
"The public has got to trust us to make the right decisions. This wasn’t one of them."
Mr Bush took over as chief commissioner in June after Shane Patton resigned following a union-led no-confidence vote in his leadership.
The former New Zealand police commissioner has since vowed to restructure the force and restore public trust, with just 61.9 per cent of people expressing confidence in Victoria Police.
Police misconduct lawyer Jeremy King argued Mr Bush's helicopter trip would complicate his future efforts to "call out bad behaviour" within the force, particularly on the inappropriate use of police resources.
"Victoria Police have long-term cultural issues within the organisation," the Robinson Gill personal injury lawyer told AAP.
"It's always hoped that when someone new comes in, a new commissioner, that they will set a new tone and standard that would hopefully be adopted across the organisation and conduct like this is going to make it difficult for him to do that."
In 2023, Mr Patton warned members no one was above the law as he revealed 17 officers were dismissed in 2022 and another 31 resigned with pending disciplinary matters.
There has been high-profile cases of alleged police misconduct in recent years, including officers leaking photos of former AFL coach Danielle Laidley and another using the Law Enforcement Assistance Program (LEAP) database to pursue vulnerable women.
Victoria Police had a long history of "very poor checks and balances" on utilisation of police resources, Mr King said.
"LEAP is an example of that, where police members can access LEAP anytime they want and it's only picked up if it's inappropriate by way of a retrospective audit," he said.
"This is another similar situation ... what process does he (Mr Bush) have to go through in order to utilise a significant police resource, seemingly for his own ends?"
Mr Bush indicated there would be no tweaks to protocols following his misstep but rather changes to decisions moving forward.
