Position vacant: A crushing police chief job with 18-hour days, a crime crisis and not enough police

Applications for the vacant job of Victoria Police’s chief commissioner close on Friday with the front-runner scratched. In the present political landscape, the successful candidate will inherit a job that spin doctors would describe as “challenging”.

Acting Chief Commissioner Rick Nugent (who was odds on to be awarded the five-year contract) had six weeks with his feet under the desk. It was enough for him to walk out the door.

Acting Police Chief Commissioner Rick Nugent will not seek the permanent job.Credit: Wayne Taylor.

Nugent, a career cop popular with his colleagues, initially applied for the permanent job, but for the last two weeks has had second thoughts. He drew up a list of pros and cons. The cons won. The job would be satisfying, but all-consuming.

Last Friday he decided to withdraw. “I just didn’t think I had five years in me.”

The job is crushing. The chief is the CEO of a massive organisation that deals daily with life and death situations, but the position also carries a massive flag-bearing role.

The boss is expected to attend retirements, graduation ceremonies, funerals, check in on sick police, and visit every police station in the state. Eighteen-hour days are routine.

There are not enough police, not enough recruits, crime rates are rocketing, budgets shrinking, home invasions are on the front page weekly and there’s political uncertainty, with previous chief commissioner Shane Patton informed – by a senior public servant – in February that he would not get a second term despite being told otherwise weeks earlier.

For the government, this situation is a nightmare. Police-in-crisis headlines tend to resonate at the ballot box.

Patton and outgoing Deputy Commissioner Neil Paterson were not sacked, they were told their contracts would not be renewed – a decision the government was fully entitled to make.

The greatest challenge for the new chief commissioner will be to be seen, and to remain, at arm’s length from the government.

The rules are simple. The government makes the laws, the police enforce them and the courts adjudicate them.

Shane Patton was told in February his contract would not be renewed.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Increasingly, governments have encroached on that independence, wanting good news stories from the police and having kneejerk reactions to the latest crisis.

Bail reform is the perfect example. The government ignored Patton’s advice for tougher laws – then introduced them after they had dispensed of his services.

Governments need to stop interfering in operational decisions, not so much because it is the right thing to do, but because it is the smart thing to do.

The culture of Victoria Police, even in the good times, is a peculiar beast. The successful applicant from the short list (and it is getting shorter by the day) for the top job will have to find ways to save money while also getting more cops out on the street. It may end up the equivalent of finishing third in an egg and spoon race.

Decades ago it was a simpler process. Police had to retire at 60, while the chief commissioner could go on until the age of 65.

In the 1970s, then chief commissioner Reg Jackson retired early so that his deputy, who was 59, could have a turn in the job.

The government ignored that advice and chose a young assistant commissioner named Mick Miller instead, who became the best chief Victoria ever had.

Miller worked with both Coalition and Labor governments without fear or favour, and politicians knew it was pointless to try and do back-door deals with him.

When a panel interviewed applicants after the retirement of Christine Nixon as police chief it found English top cop Sir Ken Jones was the outstanding candidate.

Instead, the government went local, appointing then-deputy commissioner Simon Overland.

The simplest and most practical way to protect the independence of senior police is to appoint the chief commissioner for a single five-year term. Deputy commissioners should then be appointed by the chief, not the government.

If a chief commissioner could only do one term – there would be no incentive to do the government’s bidding in an effort to win reappointment.

With one term, and the generous police superannuation scheme, they could then retire with around $4 million and be available for consultancy work.

With no chance of a second term the chief could concentrate on doing the job rather than playing politics.

And isn’t that what we all want?

John Silvester lifts the lid on Australia’s criminal underworld. Subscribers can sign up to receive his Naked City newsletter every Thursday.