[5][6] On the retirement on the grounds of ill-health of Noel Wilby in 1971, Jackson was appointed Chief Commissioner at the age of 58.

[3] Jackson was Chief Commissioner during the Beach Inquiry, established by the Victorian government to investigate corrupt behaviour by police officers relating to illegal abortion activity.

At the end of his address, the officers unanimously passed a vote of confidence in Jackson as Chief Commissioner.

The meeting put forward a series of demands that were accepted by the government and strike action was averted.

[5] At the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2015, Jackson's successor Mick Miller testified that he believed that Jackson, while Chief Commissioner, was part of a criminal conspiracy to obstruct an investigation into child sex offences allegedly committed in 1971 in Mildura by Monsignor John Day.