Apparently not. It seems an official investigation has been ditched because so many officers are involved in the practice!

An internal email to police management, reported by The Australian, said the audit had "identified a number of instances where commercial DVD movies have been copied to the hard-drives of police computers which potentially had been burnt to blank DVDs".

"This practice is potentially a breach of copyright and misuse of SAPOL equipment," it said.

Instead of reprimanding officers caught copying DVDs, they will be reminded of the rules.

"Branch managers are requested to take measures to ensure this practice must not occur and to remind members (officers) of the policies relating to the use of SAPOL computer equipment," the memo said.

A spokeswoman for commissioner Mal Hyde confirmed he had been briefed on the results of the computer audit.

"A recommendation was made that identified work areas should remind members of the need to comply with SAPOL's policy in regard to the appropriate use of work systems and legislative requirements," she said.

The spokeswoman said police computer systems were regularly audited "and appropriate action is taken where any breach of legislation or policy is detected".

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft said it would write to Hyde to seek an explanation.

Under federal laws, penalties for video piracy