Assistant Commissioner Barbara Etter

BPharm Syd LLBHons NSWIT MBA LLM N'Territory
Adjunct Associate Professor (Sellenger Centre)

Background

Barbara Etter is currently the Assistant Commissioner of Corruption Prevention and Investigation with the Western Australia Police (WAPOL). She previously headed up the Traffic and Operations, as well as the Professional Development, portfolios. Prior to commencing with WAPOL in September 2004, she was a Commander with the Northern Territory Police and the Director of the Australasian Centre for Policing Research in Adelaide, on secondment, from 1999 to 2004.

In October 2006, Barbara won the WA Telstra Businesswoman of the Year, after having also won the Hudson Community and Government category of the Award. On 26 January 2008, she was awarded the Australian Police Medal (APM) in the Australia Day Honour's List.

Barbara holds a Pharmacy degree, an Honours law degree, a Master of Business Administration in International Management and a Master of Laws in Comparative Law. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD) and a Fellow of the Australasian College of Biomedical Scientists (FACBS). She has been admitted as a barrister and legal practitioner in NSW and the NT respectively.

She commenced her policing career with the New South Wales Police in 1981 and was laterally recruited into the NT Police in 1992. During the course of her policing career, she also undertook a two-year secondment to the Policy Section of the NT Attorney-General's Department, where she was able to utilise her legal skills and qualifications.

Barbara has published quite extensively and has also co-edited and contributed to a book on Police Leadership in Australasia (Federation Press), with former Commissioner Mick Palmer of the Australian Federal Police.

Barbara has particular interests in victims of crime, women in management, leadership, cross-cultural and diversity issues, law reform, forensic science, professional development, strategy and policy formulation, and policing research.