Former Bendigo digital forensics officer charged with child abuse material offences

Vincent Manner, aged 57, formerly served as a digital forensic officer for the Bendigo police force before being charged with misconduct in public office, failure to provide information under warrant, and up to six counts of accessing and possessing child abuse material. He was placed on unpaid suspension in August of the previous year and subsequently resigned in November while an investigation was ongoing. The probe was conducted jointly by the Professional Standards Unit and the Cybercrime Squad, in coordination with the Office of Public Prosecutions, which examined the impact on ongoing investigations and court matters.

A formal re-examination of the forensic data identified a number of potentially affected matters, after which all issues were reviewed and the impacted parties were notified. Police now consider the matter resolved pending court proceedings. Manner is set to appear in Bendigo Magistrates Court on November 4.