The initial stage of an investigation into a pornographic photo republished by ACT Policing's official Twitter account is complete, but the territory's police chief remains tight-lipped about the embarrassing incident.
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The original tweet, from an account named Katie Sanders, included a front-on selfie photograph of a naked woman with the hashtag #ThonglessThursday.
It was originally posted 18 days before ACT Policing republished it on December 31.
ACT Policing deleted the nude image from its account minutes after it was shared with thousands of followers and stopped following the woman's account about 20 minutes later.
Several of Ms Sanders' pornographic tweets, which had been added to the accounts' favourites as far back as early December, were also "unfavourited" that same day.
Police announced in January they would investigate how the image came to be retweeted from the account.
Chief Police Officer Rudi Lammers said at the time the staff member had confessed to AFP professional standards immediately after the incident.
Last week, he confirmed the initial stages of that investigation had wrapped up and a report had been prepared.
The report was sent to the employee to give them the right of reply before it went up to the umpire.
It would then be up to the professional standards adjudicator to determine whether the action constituted a serious breach.
"It's still a little early to predict whether or not there was wrongdoing, that's a matter for the investigation adjudicator, given all the facts and the right of reply, to make that adjudication," Assistant Commissioner Lammers said.
"I haven't been privy to the investigation so I don't know all the facts. All I really know is what was originally reported to [professional standards] ... but our professional standards area has done a very thorough investigation I'm told.
"I think it goes without saying that we would not knowingly retweet anything that was offensive and the fact is, offensive material and the access and distribution of offensive material are caught within our integrity framework, which is why the matter was self-reported by the member."
It is understood the employee involved had a senior role in ACT Policing.
However, Assistant Commissioner Lammers would not be drawn on the employee's position or identity.
"There is a base level of standard that applies through our integrity framework to all members of the AFP, including ACT Policing. That includes both sworn and unsworn members.
"The higher you are in the organisation the greater the level of responsibility and adherence to standards that you must have because you not only follow the standards but you model them.
"I have a very high expectation of all my senior staff to model good behaviour in all facets of what we do, not just in social media."
The retweet prompted ACT Policing to review its social media protocols, but Assistant Commissioner Lammers said he didn't believe it had jeopardised its ability to communicate effectively with the public.
"What it does do is draw our attention to just how vulnerable social media can be in certain areas.
"I am satisfied that our processes and our procedures and our guidelines around social media are very robust and they will continue to be examined and changed if we need to."
He said the risks inherent in social media need to be balanced against its benefits.
"You can't let one isolated incident disrupt the value of what it is we've developed in our social media platforms."
