Dysfunction between Victoria's two top police officers led to a sorry chapter in the force's history but it's time to move on, the state's corruption watchdog says.
Mistrust marred the relationship between then chief commissioner Simon Overland and his deputy Sir Ken Jones and brought an unhappy period of disruption to the force in 2010 and 2011, the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) report found.
Sir Ken had serious concerns about the structure of Victoria Police and was not afraid to voice the concerns, the report by former Supreme Court justice Murray Kellam found.
Sir Ken did not mince words, lacked diplomacy and discretion and passed on confidential information to people he trusted, he said.
His expression of his concerns to three men, including deputy premier Peter Ryan's former adviser Tristan Weston, was inappropriate, Mr Kellam said.
But while Sir Ken would have known it was possible the information could be passed on to reporters, he did not intend for the material to reach the media, he said.
"I do not consider that the evidence is sufficient to conclude that this behaviour formed part of a scheme devised by him to ensure that those he spoke to would divulge what he said to the media," Mr Kellam said.
Mr Kellam concluded it was time to move on.
"It is time for Victoria to leave behind what can only be described as a sorry chapter in the history of VicPol," he said.
"No public interest is to be served by any further investigation."
Mr Kellam said hopefully the report will bring closure to "unhappy period of disruption, mistrust and dysfunction" in senior ranks of Victoria Police.
Mr Overland and Sir Ken resigned from the force in 2011 and no longer live in Victoria.
