Simon James Overland (born 19 March 1962)
2 March 2009, www.premier.vic.gov.au is the former Chief Executive Officer at the

City of Whittlesea The City of Whittlesea is a local government area located in the outer northern suburbs of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covers an area of , and in June 2018, it had a population of 223,322. History What became ...

and a former Chief Commissioner of

Victoria Police Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''. , Victo ...

in Australia. He previously worked with the

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. Th ...

and then with Victoria Police focusing on Melbourne's gangland wars. On 2 March 2009 he was named by the Premier,

John Brumby John Mansfield Brumby (born 21 April 1953) is the current Chancellor of La Trobe University and former Victorian Labor Party politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010. He became leader of the Victorian Labor Party and premier ...

, as Victoria Police Chief Commissioner. He resigned from this position on 16 June 2011 after intense public pressure from critics who questioned his performance. In July 2011, he was appointed the chair of the Board of Management of the

Tasmania University Union The Tasmanian University Student Association (TUSA) was formerly known as Tasmania University Union (TUU), is the peak body of student representation for tertiary students attending the University of Tasmania and was established in 1899. The Stud ...

and was responsible for overseeing the direction of the student union.

Early life and education

Born in

Murray Bridge, South Australia Murray Bridge (formerly Mobilong and Edwards Crossing) is a city in the Australian state of South Australia, located east-southeast of the state's capital city, Adelaide, and north of the town of Meningie. The city had an urban population of a ...

, Overland was raised in

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and attended Holder High School and Stirling College before gaining qualifications from the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. UC ...

(Bachelor of Arts in Administration and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies) and the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

(Bachelor of Laws, first class honours). He played

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

in the ACT Football League for Eastlake, a total of 117 senior games. In 1985 he won the Mulrooney Medal, as the competition's best and fairest player.

Career in law enforcement

With an honours degree in law and arts, he began his career in the

(AFP) in 1984, where he worked in the taskforce which investigated the murder of AFP Assistant Commissioner

Colin Winchester Colin Stanley Winchester (18 October 1933 – 10 January 1989) was an assistant commissioner in the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Winchester commanded ACT Police, the community policing component of the AFP responsible for the Australian ...

. He served about 19 years with the AFP; during this time he was selected by Australia's police commissioners to lead the Implementation Team that created the

Australian Crime Commission The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) is a law enforcement agency established by the Australian federal government on 1 July 2016, following the merger of the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) and CrimTrac. It has specialist i ...

in January 2003."Simon Overland: an expert on calm"
Disability Professionals Victoria dpv.org.au In January 2003, Overland was appointed Assistant Commissioner (Crime) with Victoria Police and led the

Purana Taskforce The Melbourne gangland killings were the murders of 36 underworld figures in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, between January 1998 and August 2010. The murders were retributive killings involving underworld groups. The deaths caused a power vacu ...

on organised crime which is credited with a prominent role in bringing an end to the Melbourne gangland wars in the world of organised crime, which resulted in convictions and lengthy jail terms for underworld figures Carl Williams and

Tony Mokbel Antonios Sajih Mokbel (Arabic: طوني مقبل) (born 11 August 1965) is an Australian criminal who has been convicted of a number of offences, most prominently commercial drug trafficking. He has spent most of his life in Melbourne, Australia ...

. He was the public face of

's campaign against organised crime in Victoria and often appeared in the media speaking about the issue. He lamented that the gangland wars have appeared to desensitise the public to violence and was critical of people in the general public who took the view that we were well rid of criminals murdered in the ongoing feuds. He also insisted that criminal figures are still human beings with the right to a fair trial and who should not be murdered any more than should general members of the public. In mid-2006 he took the position of Deputy Commissioner in Victoria Police. He was promoted to Chief Commissioner, replacing Christine Nixon, on 2 March 2009. He faced criticism in 2011 over failings in a police computer system, which did not alert front-line officers to the parolee status of various criminals they interacted with, allowing the parolees to kill six people. He resigned from the position on 16 June 2011.

Crime statistics controversy

In 2011 there was an

Ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

investigation into allegations that Overland willingly aided in selectively releasing crime statistics to help make the former

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

-based Brumby government appear more favourable to voters when law and order was considered a major political issue."Corruption warning over handling of crime stats "
''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', 4 May 2011 The Ombudsman, George Brouwer, investigated the interaction between the former government and senior police figures ahead of the release of the crime statistics on 28 October 2010. Even before the Ombudsman's report was completed, it was expected to be critical of the relationship between the Brumby government and police force. Overland resigned on 16 June 2011, a few hours after the release of a report from the Ombudsman, which criticised the 'misleading' crime statistics he published. It was revealed that he had had a discussion the previous night with the Police Minister, Peter Ryan, who indicated to him that, if he were to resign, his resignation would be accepted. The Deputy Commissioner, Ken Lay, became acting Chief Commissioner, and by the end of 2011 officially Chief Commissioner.

Later career

Simon Overland was appointed Secretary of the Tasmanian Department of Justice on 4 July 2012. He resigned after fulfilling his five-year contract on 19 July 2017. On 21 August 2017 Overland was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Whittlesea City Council, Victoria. After initially taking indefinite leave in November 2019 he was removed from this position following a Whittlesea City Council meeting on 10 December 2019, a week before his scheduled appearance at the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants."Melbourne's Whittlesea Council under scrutiny as independent monitor to be appointed following CEO sacking"
''

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'', 12 December 2019

Honours and other achievements

He is a Fellow of the

Institute of Public Administration Australia The Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) is a nonpartisan and apolitical member-based organisation which provides public sector thought leadership and works to strengthen the capacity of public servants through events, training and ...

and a Graduate of the

Australian Institute of Company Directors The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) is a non-profit membership organization for directors. The AICD is a founding member of the Global Network of Director Institutes (GNDI). History The origins of the AICD can be traced ba ...

References