Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has revealed the Lawyer X debacle has cost Victoria Police $64 million, and there may be more costs to come.

Of the $64 million, $42 million has been spent on legal costs.

“It’s an absolutely huge cost to the organisation,” Mr Patton told Neil Mitchell.

The top cop said a portion of the funds spent by Victoria Police were necessary to keep Nicola Gobbo safe.

NEIL MITCHELL: To me, the offensive part of that is a lot of this money has been spent trying to keep this secret … to spend that much public money trying to stop the public knowing.

SHANE PATTON: I don’t know the exact break up, Neil, but we took steps when we were required to. Because of public interest immunity, we have obligations to protect sources and we have always said that any steps we took, including going right up to the High Court, was because we had concerns that Ms Gobbo would be murdered.

“This was a profound failure by us,” Mr Patton said.

“It will mean a significant financial constraint for us.”

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