Thank goodness.

Under her reign, policing in Victoria has become a disaster.

In my view, the police force has headed in the direction of community policing rather than the opposite direction towards zero tolerance.

Criminals are treated as though victims and the police have gradually become the "bad guys".

Our police force needs to toughen up and only with strong leadership will it be able to do that.

The whole force has drifted under the leadership of Nixon and we need an experienced policeman to take over - preferably a Victorian who understands the local problems.

What, then, are the five things the new chief commissioner must do to restore public confidence in the police force and law and order?

1. Uniformed police on the street

THERE must be a strong uniformed police presence on the streets and especially in the CBD.

I actually live in the CBD, so I am in the streets much of the time, yet I never see foot patrols of uniformed police.

Nixon's gimmicks of Hummers or vans with surveillance cameras are useless.

The only solution for the lawlessness and violence (particularly at night) is a visible uniformed police presence.

If we do not have enough police then we need to employ some more. People are genuinely frightened of violence after dark and for good reason.

The new commissioner needs to take back control of the streets.

There needs to be a permanent crackdown on the drinking clubs which, together with the rave clubs, need to be put out of business permanently.

Everybody knows that the young people at the rave clubs consume ecstasy and other drugs all night long.

I see them coming out of these clubs at 10 o'clock Sunday morning, clutching the water bottles they need to use to counter the effects of the ecstasy.

These places are a magnet for drug dealers. Give me 20 police and a few sniffer dogs and I would shut them all down.


2. Stronger law enforcement

THE apparent Nixon policy of softly-softly community policing must be ended and replaced with tough, honest cops doing the job.

All this fancy stuff of going easy on violent demonstrators and other nuisances must stop.

The message must be sent that the law will be enforced at all times and all necessary force applied.

Uniformed police marching in gay and lesbian marches is OK but it sends the wrong message, one of a soft police force.


3. Full support for the police

THE new commissioner must support his police officers: yes, let's have a man this time for a change.

We have tried the feminine approach and it has not worked. We now need a hard male to get it sorted out.

Police work is often tough and dirty and it is the work that we give to police because we will not do it ourselves.

Nobody wants to risk death by responding to an armed holdup and nobody wants to deal with violent drunks in King St.

It is the police who have to risk their lives to look after us, 24 hours a day.

They are brave men and women and they deserve the full support of our community and of their commissioner.

I repeat, the new commissioner must be prepared to back his men.


4. A functional Police Command

THE Nixon-led disaster at police command must be fixed.

Currently we have massive in-fighting which has led to high-ranking command officers being charged with serious criminal offences.

In the last few days we have the public spectacle of Chief Commissioner Nixon taking a freebie from Qantas worth thousands of dollars and then denying she did anything wrong.

After further investigation, it turned out that the public explanation that Nixon had given was false.

She refuses to resign.

In summary, the police force has weak leadership and so the new commissioner must give strong and ethical leadership.

Surely this is not too much to ask?


5. Police corruption cleared out 

CORRUPTION at all levels of police must be wiped out.

The Government refuses to set up a crime commission (as have the other states) because they know that corruption leads into their political establishment.

The Corruption and Crime Commission in Western Australia has set the example with its investigation of the shadowy Brian Burke.

The Victorian force itself has never been cleaned out and the corruption removed.

Other states (New South Wales in particular) have had numerous royal commissions into police corruption while we have had none.

Is this because we have no corruption?

Answer: No it is because the Government knows that systemic corruption will be uncovered and that may mean lost votes.

What a mess.

Who would want this job?

Peter Faris QC is a barrister and former head of the National Crime Authority