Two separate cases of guns going missing because of book keeping failures have been revealed today.

It comes as an audit finds 80 police stations, a quarter of the country's total, need to improve the safety of their weapon storage.

Deputy Commissioner of District Operations John Tims told Heather du Plessis-Allan they have to take it on the chin and improve.

He says there has been some human error but the audit shows it's not good enough.

Police Association President Chris Cahill says the public should be disappointed, and police need to be held to account.

He says the cases appear to be a simple error, but proper processes need to be in place to stop lethal weapons being lost due to a forgetful officer.