Police Commissioner Chris Dawson was joined by his family for a walk off ceremony as he left the Western Australia Police Force Headquarters for the final time this afternoon. Officers and staff gathered outside Headquarters to congratulate the outgoing Commissioner at the end of a policing career spanning 46 years.
Mr Dawson joined as a cadet in February 1976, going on to provide 38 years of continuous service in country and metropolitan positions across a range of portfolios. Appointed to the rank of Superintendent in 1999, he became the inaugural Principal of the WA Police Academy. In 2002, he was awarded the Australian Police Medal for distinguished service in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.
His appointment as Deputy Commissioner in July 2004 saw him lead an agency reform program resulting from the outcomes of the Kennedy Royal Commission. Over the next ten years he drove the delivery of an unprecedented and sustained State-wide reduction of crime. One of the highlights was in 2011, as State Commander for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, resulting in an incident-free event attended by the Queen.
In April 2014, Mr Dawson was recruited by the Commonwealth Government to take up the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), formerly the Australian Crime Commission, an experience that prepared him for his next role.
Appointed WA's 28th Police Commissioner in August 2017, his first action was to return the agency to being known as the Western Australia Police Force, with the vision of making the agency an exceptional, trusted and valued police force for the community. A new strategic direction espoused the values of duty, teamwork, integrity and care.
Commissioner Dawson restructured to increase the number of metropolitan policing districts in WA and created a centralised State Operations Command Centre (SOCC), to better meet the demands of the community and optimise police resources, responding to crime and managing emergencies or other events.
His passion in addressing the over representation of Aboriginal people in the justice system was demonstrated in NAIDOC Week in 2018, when he apologised to all WA Aboriginal people for the past wrongs committed by the WA Police Force to Aboriginal people. This speech commemorated the permanent raising of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags at Police Headquarters, and the Aboriginal Flag now flies proudly at all WA Police Force buildings.
Continuing his ACIC work, Commissioner Dawson was committed to combatting the use of illicit drugs, which remains one of the key drivers of crime in the community. The WA Police Force has carried out the Meth Action Plan, working with other law enforcement agencies to stop the devastating impact of meth on families and the toll it takes on the community.
Commissioner Dawson worked closely with the State government to facilitate the single largest increase in police officers in decades, with an additional 950 officers committed over four years. He has actively worked with the State Government to recognise police officers medically retired due to a work-related illness or injury and the development and introduction of a long-awaited, contemporary Workers' Compensation model for police officers.
Police officer safety and services have been significantly improved through the provision of a Digital Policing Program, equipping officers with enhanced body armour and body worn cameras. The introduction of the Digital Policing Division initiated the allocation of mobile phones to all police officers, allowing police-specific applications to be utilised in the prevention and detection of criminal activity.
It was a combination of enhanced technological capability and good old-fashioned determined police investigation that led to one of the most celebrated outcomes during his leadership. Commissioner Dawson lists the rescue of kidnapped Carnarvon four-year-old Cleo Smith as the emotional highlight of his career.
The back half of his tenure as Commissioner saw him in the role of State Emergency Coordinator during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Under his leadership, the WA Police Force helped create one of the safest places in the world with a COVID response model that maintained the economic drive of the State, gave Western Australians freedoms not available to other States and kept the community safe. He was also appointed as COVID 19 Vaccine Commander, driving a program that helped the State reach key milestone vaccination levels.
On Friday, Mr Dawson will be sworn in as the 34th Governor of Western Australia. The people and communities of WA will benefit greatly from the values, beliefs and experience he brings to this role. His successor, Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch, commences as WA's 29th Police Commissioner the same day.
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