Mick Fuller

Michael John Fuller (born 1967/1968) is a retired police officer who served as the 22nd Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force. He replaced Andrew Scipione on 31 March 2017, when Scipione retired. In July 2021, Fuller announced that he would be leaving the New South Wales Police Force in April 2022 to work in the private sector. Deputy commissioner Karen Webb was his replacement, effective 1 February 2022.

Background and education Michael John Fuller completed a Diploma of Applied Policing at Charles Sturt University and a Diploma in Business Management from TAFE NSW. He got a Graduate Certificate in Change Management from South Western Sydney Institute of TAFE. He joined the City of Sydney Investigations in 1992, where he later became a designated detective in 1993. Then, he was appointed Commander in charge of Professional Standards in 2013. He was selected as the New South Wales Police Commissioner in 2017.

By 2018, his approach had been labelled as "too aggressive" but Fuller claimed to be "pushing crime down in this state because we're on the front foot and I'll continue to do that."

In July 2021 he announced that he would be retiring from the New South Wales Police Force in April 2022 to work in the private sector. Beginning from 2015, Fuller and at least five other officers in leadership roles within NSW Police owned shares across at least four racehorses from trainer David Vandyke. Vandyke was banned from three years from 1989 after two of his horses tested positive to the analgesic opioid etorphine, and has been fined three times since 2015 after his horses tested positive to banned substances.

Fuller told the ABC he owned 2.5 per cent shares in one horse, Once Epona Time, in 2019 and 2020 while he was commissioner, and in another horse, Mad Magic, from 2015 to 2017 before he was promoted to commissioner. One of Mad Magic's 14 co-owners, businessman David Levy, owned a catering company which won a $3 million contract in 2017, after Fuller became commissioner, to supply NSW Police with meals at major events, police functions and training. In 2017, Levy was the target of an investigation into an illegal asbestos dump on a property he owned. The ABC also revealed that Levy employs a former police officer and husband to an assistant commissioner as a manager at one of his food businesses.

Fuller said to the ABC he was not required to declare his shares and that he had not breached any policies. He also denied having "personally benefited" from Levy's business dealings. Fuller was previously investigated in 2016 over a separate complaint over his involvement with horseracing, but no evidence of wrongdoing was found.

Following the ABC investigation, NSW Racing Minister Kevin Anderson announced that Fuller will not be considered for the board of Racing NSW. On 18 February, NSW Police launched an internal investigation into the co-ownership of racehorses by Fuller and other senior police officers, and if they breached anti-corruption rules. On 20 February, it was revealed that the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), the NSW police watchdog, was aware of Fuller's shares in racehorses for several years, having received written complaints from former and serving police officers when Fuller was commissioner.

On 15 March, the LECC published its report, stating there is "clearly no substance in any of the allegations that have been made against Mr Fuller", and that the evidence does not show serious misconduct "or any misconduct at all". The report also said the allegations, first made anonymously to the LECC in 2019 and repeated at the time of Fuller's retirement, "would appear to be a malevolent attempt to cause him harm when he is seeking to establish a new life". The ABC said its reporters have spent months gathering information from reluctant sources, that the LECC report came less than one month after the ABC's publishing, and that the LECC did not contradict the ABC's reporting that Fuller had not declared his racehorse shares. On 13 December, the LECC released a report where it reversed its previous decision to clear Fuller of wrongdoing, as well as urged NSW police commissioner Karen Webb to ban officers from owning racehorses or introduce more thorough controls on police involvement in the racing industry.

Role as State Emergency Operation Controller COVID-19 pandemic As of April 2020, when NSW entered a state of emergency lockdown due to the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic, Commissioner Fuller was appointed the State Emergency Operations Controller and was put in charge of enforcing COVID-19 restriction in NSW. These restrictions include the number of people allowed to gather in the same space (indoors and outdoors) applied to homes, offices, public transport, weddings, funerals, restaurants, cinemas and other venues.

Fuller's responsibility was to keep NSW residents and communities safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May 2020, the Remuneration Tribunal made the decision to approve a pay rise of close to $87,000 for Fuller to reflect his added roles and responsibilities, which was supported by NSW Premier Berejiklian. Although this took Fuller's annual package to an estimated $649,500, the Premier defended the decision as other senior officers including the Australian Police Force Commissioner, Australian Border Force Commissioner and the Queensland Police Commissioner earned more than Fuller. Stacey Maloney, who was the Acting Assistant Commissioner in charge in the city, was responsible for obtaining the relevant documents required to apply to the Supreme Court of New South Wales regarding this matter. Although the court order did not ban the rally that was supposed to take place on 28 July 2020, charges could be made against protesters who chose to attend for disruption of traffic and any violation of a public health order, which were NSW authorities' main concerns. Fuller expressed concern that protest attendees would not be able to keep a safe distance and there was a high risk of COVID-19 transmission during the protest as crowds gathered. Fuller insisted that the event be postponed or rescheduled due to the continuous community transmission of COVID-19 in NSW. Event organisers disagreed and claimed that they had the right to protest. In August 2022, the inquiry's findings were made public, making 28 recommendations, all of which were supported by the NSW government.

Personal life Fuller is married with four children.

Honours and achievements In 2004, Fuller received a National Medal and the 1st clasp to the NSW Police Medal.