New Vic PSO shoots his new office

2 Nov 2012, 1:07 pm   -   Source: AAP

A Protective Services Officer accidentally fired a gun in the Victoria Police Centre on his first day on the job.

First day nerves can be trying for the best of us, but most new employees don't start their job by firing a gun in the office.

A nervous protective services officer (PSO) was lucky not to injure anyone when he accidentally fired his new gun into the floor on his first day at the Victoria Police Centre in Melbourne.

Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Chris O'Neill said the PSO triggered a shot after ripping his name tag off the gun.

"It's a very unusual occurrence to happen," Mr O'Neill told reporters on Friday.

"The PSO would have been a bit nervous about day one."

The shot was fired at the VPC equipment issue office about 5.15pm (AEDT) on Thursday, where other PSOs were likely present, Mr Neill conceded.

"At that time of day there would have been other PSOs commencing," he said.

Mr O'Neill admitted he had accidentally fired a shot himself when issued with his first gun.

"It's one of those things you only do once," he said.

His bosses have branded the mistake a human error, with the PSO heading to back to work on Friday.

Chief Commissioner Ken Lay said there had been four accidental discharges at the VPC in the last year, including one by a highly trained member of the Special Operations Group.

But he defended the decision to allow the armed guard to train with transit police at a train station on Friday night.

"Look, this person has made a mistake," Mr Lay told reporters.

"Not putting this PSO out to further his training doesn't make sense to me. We know that this accident won't happen again."

Mr Lay said the tag should have been removed before the PSO was handed the gun.

"This was a brand new firearm to a brand new member. It had a tag attached to the trigger which should never have been attached when it was handed to the member," he said.

Premier Ted Baillieu said PSOs had been warmly welcomed by the public.

"The important thing is that the ethical standards investigate this and make sure it doesn't happen again," Mr Baillieu said.

The state government made a election promise to have 940 PSOs patrol every Melbourne train station and major regional locations by November 2014.

The opposition has previously criticised PSO training as inadequate, but Mr Neill maintained the officers' training was "fantastic".

Mr Lay said PSOs received the same firearms training as police.

Transit CIU detectives are investigating the incident with oversight provided by the ethical standards department.

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