Code of conduct, uniform and appearance for protective services officers (PSOs)

Protective services officers (PSOs) must follow Victoria Police’s policies, appearance standards and code of conduct.

Be aware how this may impact your personal and professional life before you start the application and recruitment process.

What we expect

Victoria Police employees must follow the expected standards at all times.

Protective services officers must adhere to:

the Victoria Police code of conduct
uniform and appearance standards
our drug and alcohol policy, and
other requirements.

The Victoria Police Act 2013

The Victoria Police Act 2013 imposes a duty on employees to be of good behaviour at all times.

Your conduct, both on and off duty, reflects on both you and Victoria Police.

Actions you take in your personal life may affect your employment. They may also result in internal discipline or criminal proceedings.

Victoria Police's organisational values

Your behaviour must demonstrate our organisational values.

Our organisational values underpin our policies, procedures and practices. They provide guidance on how we expect employees to interact with the community and each other.

Code of conduct

The Victoria Police Code of Conduct Professional and Ethical Standards sets out behaviour requirements for all employees.

The code of conduct can also help you identify situations and associations which may be conflicts of interest.

Drugs and alcohol

During the application process and your employment with Victoria Police, you will be tested for drugs and alcohol.

This means:

you must have a blood alcohol concentration of zero while on duty and on call
you must be free of illegal drugs at all times, both on and off duty
if you are taking prescribed medications, you must disclose them in your application medical report.

Uniform and appearance

All employees must adhere to the Victoria Police Uniform and Appearance Policy.

Employee appearance must reflect a professional and disciplined law enforcement agency. This includes clothing, grooming and personal accessories.

You may seek an exemption on genuine medical, cultural or religious grounds.

You can apply for an exemption at the induction stage of the application process.

Tattoos and tattoo placements

Victoria Police’s Uniform and Appearance Standards include direction around tattoos/body art and piercings.

No visible offensive, or inappropriate tattoos are permitted.

No offensive or inappropriate visible tattoos are permitted.
These are tattoos that include words, images or objects that could be viewed as:
- obscene, violent, defamatory, sexually explicit, discriminatory, harassing, insulting, threatening or racially intolerant
- constituting sexual harassment, or that are discriminatory or vilifying under equal opportunity legislation
- incompatible with Victoria Police's role, will affect our reputation, or diminish public confidence.
Tattoos on the face, head and front of the neck are not permitted.
Neck tattoos on the rear of the neck may be permitted, but must not extend forward of the neck, beyond an imaginary line drawn vertically from behind the back of the ear down to the shoulder.
Existing employees are not permitted to get additional body art on the face, head and/or front of the neck. While on duty, employees must cover or remove all body art or modifications that are offensive or inappropriate.

Facial hair

There are some requirements around beards and moustaches.

You may have a beard if it is:
- grown while you are on leave, or absent from duty
- grown for at least three weeks before you resume duty
- full face, including a moustache
- trimmed to follow the underside of the jawline, with a clean-shaven neck
- kept neat, clean and close-trimmed
- not over 20mm in length
- not extreme in style or colour.
Goatees and patches of hair below the lower lip are not permitted.
You may have a moustache if it is:
- clean, tidy and neatly trimmed
- does not extend beyond a vertical line from the outer edge of the eye or below the bottom edge of the top lip.

Jewellery

Protective services officers can wear the following items of jewellery:

wristwatches
minimal rings of conservative style
emergency medical alert bracelets or pendants.

Other jewellery, ornaments, adornments or accessories are not permitted. This includes:

earrings
spacers
any facial or body piercings
plugs
tunnels
bars
chains
dental grills
or similar.

Secondary employment

Employees must gain approval from their line management to maintain or obtain secondary employment.

Secondary employment will not be approved if it conflicts with your role as a Victoria Police employee.

This includes the:

liquor industry
gaming industry
racing industry
transport industry
firearms industry
weapons industry
private security industry, and
sex industry.

Code of conduct, uniform and appearance questions for PSOs

We can answer your questions before you submit your application.

Email: POLICECAREERS-MGR@police.vic.gov.au
Call: (03) 8335 5003 (8am - 4pm, Monday to Friday).

Already started your application?

Continue your protective services officer application by logging in to our careers portal.

Careers

Updated 27 April 2026