Career in Law Enforcement
With an honours degree in law and arts, he began his career in the Australian Federal Police (AFP), where he worked in the taskforce which investigated the murder of AFP Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester. He served about 19 years with the AFP; during this time he was selected by Australia's police commissioners to lead the Implementation Team that created the Australian Crime Commission in January 2003.
In January 2003, Overland was appointed Assistant Commissioner (Crime) with Victoria Police and led the Purana Taskforce on organised crime which is credited with a prominent role in bringing an end to the Melbourne gangland wars in the world of organised crime, which resulted in convictions and lengthy jail terms for underworld figures Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel.
He was the public face of Victoria Police's campaign against organised crime in Victoria and often appeared in the media speaking about the issue. He lamented that the gangland wars have appeared to desensitise the public to violence and was critical of people in the general public who took the view that we were well rid of criminals murdered in the ongoing feuds. He also insisted that criminal figures are still human beings with the right to a fair trial and who should not be murdered any more than should general members of the public.
In mid-2006 he took the position of Deputy Commissioner in Victoria Police.
He was promoted to Chief Commissioner, replacing Christine Nixon, on 2 March 2009.
He faced criticism in 2011 over failings in a police computer system, which did not alert front-line officers to the parolee status of various criminals they interacted with, allowing the parolees to kill six people. He resigned from the position on 16 June 2011.
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