Vic's Overland cleared of corrupt conduct

24 Oct 2012, 6:55 am   -   Source: AAP
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An ombudsman report has cleared former Victorian top cop Simon Overland of corrupt conduct. (AAP)

An ombudsman report has cleared former Victorian top cop Simon Overland of corrupt conduct. (AAP)

Former Victoria Police chief commissioner Simon Overland has been cleared of corruption but the ombudsman has taken him to task over some key issues.

Former Victoria Police chief commissioner Simon Overland has been cleared of corrupt conduct by the ombudsman but was hauled over the coals for accepting corporate invites and giving a generous termination payout to a police media director.

A whistleblower alleged Mr Overland had been corrupt by accepting a temporary membership of the Melbourne Cricket Club, accepting other offers of corporate hospitality and allowing the reappointment of a superintendent without proper partiality.

The whistleblower also alleged Mr Overland allowed an unnecessary and unethical termination payment of more than $72,000 to former police media director Nicole McKechnie, as well as paying for her to complete a master's degree.

The ombudsman also called for annual audits of police emails following the 2010 investigation of 207 Victoria Police employees for the use of emails involving pornographic material, violence, as well as threatening and harassing language.

One superintendent under investigation retired after being told about the police probe.

Acting ombudsman John Taylor said it was questionable for the chief police commissioner to be accepting invitations to major events such as the AFL Grand Final and the Boxing Day Test in 2010, as well as temporary membership of the MCC.

He acknowledged that previous chief commissioners had accepted the MCC membership but said he was concerned about the perception of preferential treatment.

"I question the wisdom of this position and the message it sends to members of the force and to the Victorian public sector about senior public officers accepting gifts and benefits," the ombudsman said.

He said Victoria Police's approach to dealing with gifts and benefits was inadequate.

"A number of Victoria Police employees, including senior staff, have a poor understanding of the gifts and benefits policy," he said.

He also found the termination payout to Ms McKechnie was unnecessary as she had just three weeks remaining in her employment contract.

Both Ms McKechnie and Mr Overland denied the payments were hush money to discourage her from talking about the Victoria Police inner workings.

He recommended that the force's human resources department review its practices to ensure that employees no longer receive unnecessary payments after resigning.

He also found that the reappointment of a superintendent, who had been acting as a consultant, lacked transparency.

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