A STATE police chief in Australia apologised to the Jewish community on Saturday after a sergeant allegedly performed an outlawed Nazi salute.

The female officer, an instructor on domestic violence policy and law at the Victoria state police academy in Melbourne whose name has not been released, is facing charges over the gesture and for praising Adolf Hitler with the words: “Heil Hitler” on Tuesday and Wednesday in front of academy staff and recruits, Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said.

“I want to express just here at the outset my disappointment, my disgust, my anger at this appalling conduct,” Mr Patton told a press conference.