Ted Baillieu feels the heat after adviser's rendezvous with Ken Jones

FOR a couple of hours in February, Ted Baillieu's closest adviser sat at the home of the state's second-most powerful policeman.

It was, according to those present, a largely dull affair. As a policeman might say, none dead, time to move on.

Yet the mere fact Ken Jones would apparently invite Michael Kapel into the Jones family home to discuss affairs of state less than three months after an election says much about the dynamic at the top of the police force.

It also confirms that Chief Commissioner Simon Overland was on the outer, that Sir Ken was the favoured top brass and that Overland's popular British deputy was a player in the deteriorating relationship between the Baillieu government and its chief of police.

While there is disagreement about who called the meeting, it would not have taken place at all had Overland's position been secure. The truth is, Overland has been on the nose, in some form, ever since he assumed the top job.

Labor and Liberal alike have been unhappy with aspects of his tenure, albeit for different reasons.

But the meeting was botched. In an email after the meeting, Sir Ken said it was "utterly incompetent" of Baillieu's staff to leave Police Minister, Deputy Premier and National Party leader Peter Ryan out of the loop.

The decision to meet in secret will raise a number of serious questions.

First, it is hard to believe that the Premier did not know about the meeting.

Second, it seems bizarre that Ryan would not be consulted. Ryan made it clear he should have been told, but the circumstances of the meeting might explain why he has appeared to go soft on Overland, whose tenure as chief commissioner is terminal.

Either Overland is sacked this year or his position won't be ratified for another term when his contract expires in less than three years. Ryan stated repeatedly yesterday that the Overland-Jones soap opera was awash with speculation and the truth was hard to determine.

A smart person can read between the lines.

The most senior of Liberals can't cop Overland and would have loved to have punted him. Ryan is trying to be the honest broker and remains Overland's best hope of serving out his five-year contract.

Finally, unless Baillieu lances the Overland-Jones boil quickly, his government's law and order agenda will be crippled.