Chris Eaton (police officer)

Chris Eaton is a former police officer who has also overseen security and anti-corruption efforts in sports. He is a well-known figure in the world of sports results manipulation and is sought worldwide for his opinion and feedback on program's aimed at tackling corruption in sport. He has worked in sport integrity at FIFA and INTERPOL and is currently the Sports Integrity Director at the International Centre for Sport Security.

Chris Eaton
Chris Eaton
Sport Integrity Director, International Centre for Sport Security
Assumed office
April 2012
Personal details
Born1952
Melbourne, Australia
NationalityAustralian
ResidenceDoha, Qatar
Alma materCharles Sturt University

Early life and education

Born on 22 February 1952, Eaton attended Caulfield High School in Melbourne and later the Australian Graduate School of Police Management in Sydney. He went on to complete a graduate certificate at the Charles Sturt University in New South Wales.

Career

Eaton has over 40 years' public service experience in the fields of international law enforcement, security and integrity.[1]

The International Centre for Sport Security

Eaton joined the International Centre for Sport Security in April 2012,[2] a non-profit organisation led by President Mohammed Hanzab, Vice-President Mohammed Al Hajaj Shahwani and Executive Director, Helmut Spahn. Eaton has spoken out against a number of issues including the state of English football,[3] match-fixing in Africa,[4][5] the need for governmental involvement in match-fixing[6][7] and general corruption[8] in sport including the Indian Premier League.[9] His primary role is to promote integrity reform in the sport industry and support the creation of international measures to combat integrity threats to sport.[10]

FIFA

In December 2010 Eaton was appointed as the security adviser to FIFA for the 2010 World Cup South Africa™, and later, FIFA's head of security,[11][12] Eaton was responsible for all FIFA interests and assets against risk and threat and oversaw the development of an internal investigation program[13] to target match-fixing and criminal behaviour within football. The program included managing a team of international investigators, a first for FIFA at the time.[14] Eaton initiated unique institutional tools for sport to combat corruption in football, including a hotline and website in 180 languages, the offer of amnesties,[15] rewards[16] and rehabilitation for anyone who revealed important information.[17] The introduction of these tools was delayed when FIFA came under independent governance scrutiny. Eaton saw many in the worldwide sporting industry punished for profiting from the illegal betting industry with ongoing match-fixing investigations in about 50 countries,[18] due in part to his global law enforcement contacts and forceful approach.[19] His resignation was a setback for the infamous Asiagate[20] scandal as Eaton was also instrumental in the arrest of the Singaporean man at the center of the match-fixing debacle, Wilson Raj Perumal.[21][22]

INTERPOL

In 1999 Eaton was sent by the Australian Federal Police[23] to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), where he was eventually responsible for running INTERPOL's 24/7 Command and Coordination Centre,[24] the global, operational, monitoring hub of INTERPOL.[25] During this period Eaton was also seconded from INTERPOL as a senior UN Special Investigator with the Independent Inquiry Committee, managing international investigations of allegations of fraud and corruption within the United Nations' Oil-for-Food Program in Iraq.

Police service

Eaton began his career, in 1969, with the Victoria police, a state police service in Australia, transferring five years later to then Commonwealth Police, which later renamed the Australian Federal Police.[26] Eaton served as a federal agent[27] and also spent over 10 years as the National Secretary of the Australian Federal Police Association,[28] the professional representative body of federal police employees, during which time he called for the abolition of the National Crime Authority.[29] He is a recipient of the Australian Police Medal.[30]

Personal

Eaton is married with six children (two sons and four daughters) and two grandchildren. He currently resides in Doha, Qatar.

References
  1. "Chris Eaton Director of Sport Integrity International Centre for Sport Security". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 13 June 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  2. "FIFA's anti-corruption tsar will be a hard act to follow". World Soccer. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
  3. "Ex-FIFA official Chris Eaton says no proof of match-fixing in the English game". Sky Sports. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  4. "Zimbabwe 'match-fixers' face ban: FIFA". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  5. "Africa must combat match-fixing, says ex-Fifa official". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  6. "FIFA: Governments must help in match-fixing fight". CNN. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  7. "Criminal gangs rule match-fixing, warns former Fifa head of security". London: Guardian. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  8. "Corruption in sport: a "gold rush" with the law left behind". UNESCO. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  9. "Sport faces integrity crisis, says Chris Eaton". Times of India. 31 May 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  10. "Sorbonne-ICSS match-fixing report to be released in May". Inside World Football. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  11. "FIFA and FIFpro to speak on 'Betting in Football' at Soccerex European Forum". Soccerex. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  12. "All the world is staged Bribed players, fake games. Criminal syndicates can fix any match, anywhere". ESPN Soccer. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  13. "FIFA in Malaysia on match-fixing probe". NDTV sports. Archived from the original on 8 November 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  14. "FIFA in SA to probe alleged match fixing". SA News. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  15. "Eaton reveals changes in FIFA's programme against match-fixing". Play the Game. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  16. "Match-fixing confessions could affect bans: FIFA". NDTV Sports. Archived from the original on 5 November 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  17. "Report: FIFA Plans Whistleblower Bounty Program". Wall Street Journal. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  18. Kelso, Paul (8 May 2011). "Match fixing: Fifa and Interpol join forces in $20 million bid to fight match-fixing menace". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  19. Kelso, Paul (16 February 2012). "Fifa head of security set to resign dealing a blow to governing body's attempt to stamp out match-fixing in football". London: The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  20. "Blow for Asiagate as Eaton resigns". The Sunday Mail. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  21. "Perumal: Man behind vast match-fixing case". Hurriyet Daily News. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  22. Kelso, Paul (19 July 2011). "Global match-fixing investigation claims major scalp as Wilson Raj Perumal is jailed for two years". London: The Telegraph. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  23. "Plans by the Federal Government to place AFP on 10-year contracts". Parliament of Australia.
  24. "Cops: Have a party, not a war". Kickoff.com. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  25. "Singapore is a hub for match-fixers". Emirates 24/7. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
  26. "Tate accused over airport security". The Age. 23 June 1988.
  27. Wilkins, Peter. "To investigate overseas countries approaches in the investigation and prosecution of hi tech crime by the creation of a national centre for cyber crime" (PDF). Churchill Trust: 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2002.
  28. Etter, Palmer, Barbara, Mick (1995). Police Leadership in Australasia. The Federation Press. p. 254. ISBN 9781862871830.
  29. "The National Crime Authority. Incompetent plods, or dangerous destroyers of civil liberty. 1st of 2 stories turn our secretive supercops inside out". Sydney Morning Herald. 9 March 1991. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013.
  30. "It's an Honour". Australian Government.


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