Commander Therese Fitzgerald APM
Therese joined Victoria Police in 1993, working in general duties policing in both metropolitan and rural locations. In 2000 she qualified as a police prosecutor working in the Magistrate’s and Children’s court jurisdictions.
In 2004 she was deployed to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands with the Australian Federal Police International Deployment Group working with Boroko Prosecutions, the RPNGC Major Fraud Squad and the RAMSI Prosecutions Unit co-ordinating the ‘tension trials’ in Honiara.
She returned to Victoria Police in 2006 as a Sergeant, working at Melbourne Prosecutions, Centre for Investigator Training (DTS) and the State Coroner’s Assistants’ Unit where she played a key role in the response to Victoria’s Black Saturday bushfires, establishing the Disaster Victim Identification Reconciliation Centre.
As Senior Sergeant at Prosecutions, she professionalised police prosecutions through the development of vocational qualifications.
She was promoted to Inspector in 2013 as Knox Local Area Commander working closely with key partners to ensure community safety. She then moved to the VEOHRC Review Response Office driving significant organisational change regarding workplace harm, diversity, and inclusion. This role enabled her to formalise her career long pursuit of enhancing diversity within the organisation.
Promoted to Superintendent in 2016 at North-West Metro Region Support Services Division, she held the portfolios of training, planning, risk, audit, and safety. Her key achievement was the development of governance processes ensuring positive safety outcomes. This initiative won the Chief Commissioner’s Safety Award in 2018.
In 2017, Therese became Divisional Area Commander, ND2 (Westgate Division), serving Maribyrnong, Hobson’s Bay and Wyndham LGAs, where her focus on improving outcomes for at-risk youth included the implementation of the Embedded Youth Outreach Program.
In response to the global pandemic, Therese was seconded to Emergency Management Victoria assisting DHHS as Deputy State Controller of various State level, multi-agency operations.
She was promoted to Commander at Southern Metro Region in 2021 where she continues to focus on positive community safety outcomes through her role as Chair of Regional Crime Tasking and Co-ordination Committee and the State Police Commander for Operation Trinity.
Therese was awarded the Australian Police Medal in 2017. She has a Bachelor of Laws; a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment; and a Certificate IV Project Management and is currently completing the Executive Masters in Public Administration through the Australia and New Zealand School of Government.
She was the inaugural Chair of VP Women in Policing Advisory Group and has served on several external boards including Court Network, Youth Junction Incorporated and school councils and local sporting clubs. In 2021, the Victorian Governor appointed her to the Police Registration and Services Board. She is a long-suffering Collingwood supporter and is living her best life vicariously through her daughter, perfecting the art of being a ‘dance mom’ and netball Team Manager/Coach extraordinaire.