A Victorian police officer, a senior constable, is accused of punching and kicking a teenager multiple times while the teenager was handcuffed and not resisting during an arrest in Ballarat in October 2025. The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Ibac), the state’s corruption watchdog, has charged the officer with common assault. The victim was under 18 at the time of the incident. The officer is expected to appear in court in Ballarat on 26 October. This incident marks the fourth time in five weeks that Ibac has charged a Victorian police officer with assault, a significant rise compared to previous years. In 2025, only one officer was charged with assault by Ibac, and that was the first full year of operation for its focused police complaints team (FPCT), which targets serious allegations of misconduct against vulnerable groups. The FPCT is a specialized unit within Ibac that investigates serious, single-incident allegations of misconduct by Victoria Police, particularly against people from communities more likely to experience police misconduct. These groups include children, Aboriginal people, people from culturally diverse backgrounds, and those with mental health challenges. Earlier this month, a leading senior constable was charged with four counts of assault after an investigation into the use of force against a teenager in Braybrook, a suburb of Melbourne’s west. Ibac alleges the officer struck the teen multiple times with a baton and stood on them while they were restrained on the ground. The officer faces two counts of aggravated assault with a weapon and two counts of unlawful assault. In August, Ibac charged two officers with assault after they allegedly used a Taser and knee strikes to repeatedly hit a man in the head during an arrest the previous year. Ibac’s deputy commissioner for police oversight, Liana Buchanan, noted in March that the FPCT has played a key role in the increase in investigations and recommendations against police. Before the team was established, only a small percentage of police complaints were investigated by Ibac. Buchanan explained that the team’s work ensures more frequent, independent investigations into misconduct involving vulnerable groups.