The Source: Job-hopping top cop Simon Overland back in new role

After a stint in Tasmania, the former Victoria Police chief commissioner has made his way back to the mainland to continue his colourful career in a surprising new role.

Former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland has a new job. Picture: James Ross

Putting the squeeze on Victoria’s movers, shakers and headline makers

Former Victoria Police chief commissioner Simon Overland has a new job.

The 63-year-old has joined the executive team at Moonee Valley City Council and enjoys the title of Director Strategy, Planning and Climate Resilience.

Overland was appointed the state’s top cop in 2009 and quit two years later after a controversy around “misleading crime statistics”. That’s the Ombudsman’s words, not The Source’s. And he was a central figure in the gangland Purana taskforce and the Lawyer X scandal. Enough said.

Simon Overland attends a Whittlesea Council meeting. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Anyway, after a stint as Tasmania’s Justice Department secretary, Overland popped up as chief executive at Whittlesea City Council in 2017.

The council there removed him two years later and everyone thought he had retired to Tassie to wind up his colourful career, serving as the general manager of Burnie City Council.

But the bright lights of Moonee Ponds beckoned. And now he rejoins Moonee Valley CEO Helen Sui, who was a director under Overland at Whittlesea.

Maybe it might be a good thing having an ex-cop around town hall, given IBAC found that former mayor Cam Nation received cocaine and other kickbacks in exchange for directly influencing council decisions on property matters.

The Source also notes that there is a park in the municipality called Overland Reserve, out in Keilor East. What odds a selfie there?

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