The job as the ACT's top cop has been described by previous incumbents as the best in the federal police.
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But for newly appointed Neil Gaughan, it would simply be a relief to step out of the media's firing line.
Deputy Commissioner Gaughan was the senior Australian Federal Police officer who last year sent investigation teams to search the Sydney offices of the ABC and the Canberra home of journalist Annika Smethurst, in doing so incurring the vitriol of national media organisations and the public, sparking a national debate about press freedom.
The notoriety of those cases and the backlash which resulted - tarnishing the reputation of the Australian Federal Police - has followed ACT Chief Police Officer Gaughan into his new role in uniform although he doesn't shy away from delivering his view on whether or not the raids should have occurred.
He firmly believes it may well happen again - "anything's possible" - unless Commonwealth laws were changed to specifically protect journalists and whistleblowers from prosecution.
"If people think the law is broken and we want to carve out exemptions for activity, the law needs to change," he said.
"But from a law enforcement perspective, that [legislative change] is not my call."
However, he also pointed out that the "decision-making process has changed in relation to these matters" both within the federal police and the office of the federal Attorney General, and oversight has improved.
Becoming embroiled in investigating media organisations is also a politically charged path which the newly arrived federal police Commissioner, Reece Kershaw, may well find littered with unpredictable consequences. Dealing with a bikie street shootout and multiple murders, as Mr Kershaw had shortly before leaving the Northern Territory, would be much easier to manage.
The federal raids were conducted in an effort to investigate where the journalists obtained leaked and allegedly classified information which supported their stories.
The ABC was raided over its story alleging unlawful killings by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.
The Smethurst raid, authorised by an ACT Magistrate, was over a story in which defence and home affairs ministries had discussed new powers to spy on Australian citizens.
The Smethurst case proceeded to the High Court, where the search warrant was declared invalid. Separately, the federal police reviewed the evidence gathered and found they didn't have a case anyway.
Inside the territory, things should be a little less complicated for Deputy Commissioner Gaughan, who comes to the ACT wearing an unusually senior amount of epaulette silverware for Canberra's top cop.
He also has had one of the most diversified federal careers of any previous incumbent, including acting in the Commissioner's position. He knows all the other state and territory heads of police well.
Those who know him from the hallowed halls of the Barton headquarters of the AFP describe him as "one of the good guys" and with an excellent investigative background which ironically started back as a constable in the ACT, when he worked on the traffic accident investigations team.
The top job in Canberra's police, which is effectively a service contract between the federal police and the ACT government worth around $170 million a year, is one which serves three masters: a demanding and affluent Canberra community, an ACT government paying the bills and providing the infrastructure, and the Commissioner.
Deputy Commissioner Gaughan has three key policing priorities on his agenda for the territory.
He defined these as tackling the high rate of recidivist offending in the ACT, a more intense effort on ACT road safety, and focussing on the mental health and wellbeing of the ACT's police officers.
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Video footage which surfaced on Tuesday night in Sydney of a NSW police officer using a "leg sweep" to send a 16-year-old Indigenous boy crashing to the ground has sparked a significant community protest and outcry.
The officer, who had been threatened by the youth before the incident, has been suspended pending further investigations. The boy was treated and released.
"That disappoints me, that footage," he said."The problem with that [incident] in the current environment is that it makes it difficult to build trust with the [Indigenous] community.
"We definitely need to do more work with the Indigenous community in this country from a law enforcement perspective.
"There are too many Aboriginals in our criminal justice system; they are significantly over-represented."
Just two weeks into the top job, he said that he had already met with some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders in the ACT community.
He said that his intention as the new chief was not to step in and make changes too soon but to spend "at least couple of months" assessing the systems and processes already in operation and see where value can be added.
"I'm not going to make change for change's sake," he said.
The internal clout which his deputy Commissioner rank brings to the job will also help leverage some shared efficiencies with the federal body within administration and governance, which can free up positions better used elsewhere, such as the operational front line.
