Chief Commissioner Ken Lay is copping it sweet Chief Commissioner Ken Lay appears to enjoy the support of his troops, their union, the broader community and the State Government. IN June 2011, Ken Lay was an outside bet to become Victoria's top police officer after the rancorous departure of Simon Overland. Bookmaking agency Sportsbet opened its market listing Mr Lay as a 16-1 chance behind a host of more fancied runners in the Chief Commissioner Stakes. Today, the longshot looks pretty comfortable in one of the state's most challenging jobs. Mr Lay appears to enjoy the support of his troops, their union, the broader community and the State Government. They are factors which, he says, make him resilient and are the difference to the "dark times" of the force in the first half of 2011. "It is an amazingly rewarding job," Mr Lay said. At times, it can be brutal. The hours are long. There's enormous challenges every day. One of those Mr Lay has set himself and the force is to get on top of the expanding outlaw motorcycle gang presence in Victoria. It is a multi-pronged approach embracing what he calls the brawn of raids and disrupting gang runs with the brains of complex forensic work to dismantle their business activities. A Hells Angels member is arrested by Victoria Police in a raid. "It's (the bikie world) a beast with many, many heads," Mr Lay told the Herald Sun. I'm under no illusion we'll solve this in six months' time. This is an ongoing, relentless battle. Mr Lay said there were 130 patched gang members in Victorian jails. "That's 10 per cent of active OMCG members in this state," he said. Mr Lay said the work of the Echo taskforce, crime command's front line against OMCGs, had been crucial. They're absolute guns. This is a challenging area to work. They push and push. Mr Lay said one of the most pleasing elements of 2013 was a continued decline in the road toll to 241, on target to come in scores under the 346 of eight years ago. The fall may seem staggering now, but Mr Lay said it had been predicted years ago under modelling by the Monash University Accident Research Centre. Puneet Puneet is brought to the district court in Rajpura, India. Mr Lay, the state's former top traffic officer, tipped the toll would fall below 100 in the "next decade or so." This year has been a quantum drop. A problem heading in the opposite direction this year has been the overflow of prisoners from jails being kept in police cells. Mr Lay said it had dragged some members away from their core jobs and it was a credit to them that no one had been injured or major unrest generated by the overcrowding situation. Corrections authorities were working hard to get more beds available in tough circumstances, he said. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Mr Lay said the public had embraced the placement of protective services officers at railway stations. He said those officers had performed exceptionally in making public transport safer and were here to stay. Police are investigating the disappearance of Boronia schoolgirl Siriyakorn "Bung" Siriboon. Sporting corruption emerged as a key issue in September when the Southern Stars soccer match-fixing investigation became public. Mr Lay said while he was surprised at the brazen nature of what had happened, the work of Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton, who travelled overseas to examine sports corruption, had prepared the force for what was to come. We saw the train coming. It was only a matter of time before there was a major issue," he said. The introduction of laws allowing police to share information gleaned from phone intercepts remained a vital component of future efforts to fight fixing. After taking over at a time of acrimony between the force and the Police Association, there has been relative harmony since. Mr Lay said a key factor in this was his longstanding relationship with association secretary Greg Davies, who will leave the post early next year. They have had many "robust" discussions but both had made a conscious effort to avoid public displays of tension, keeping the more heated discussions behind closed doors. "We both understand how important it is," Mr Lay said. Mr Lay said he was happy there had been a breakthrough in the Puneet Puneet culpable driving case. Puneet was arrested in India last month, five years after drunkenly ploughing into Queenslander Dean Hoftsee in Melbourne's City Rd. He pleaded guilty but fled on a mate's passport, prompting a low-key but ultimately successful effort by Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and Indian authorities. "I'm very proud of the continued focus of the major collision investigation unit on this," Mr Lay said. They knew it was important to the family. They knew it was important to the community. There has been less heartening news on another difficult, high-profile case, the disappearance and suspected murder of Boronia schoolgirl Siriyakorn "Bung" Siriboon. He said he realised this must be extremely painful for Bung's family but stressed the public should know the case was still moving. "There is a commitment," he said.