Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll APM

On the frontline

Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice

Executive Master of Public Administration

Katarina Carroll APM was sworn in as the 20th Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service (QPS) on 8 July 2019. During her policing career, which began in 1983, Commissioner Carroll worked in various roles including Criminal Investigation Branches, a Commission of Inquiry, the Joint Crime Task Force, and the covert unit.

In 2012 she was the Operations Commander for G20, Australia’s largest peacetime security operation. In December 2014, she was hand-picked to lead the newly formed Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES). As a transformational leader, Commissioner Carroll influenced the sector through her involvement as the Vice President on the Board of the Australasian Fire Authorities Council (AFAC) and a member of the AFAC Commissioners and Chief Officers Strategic Committee (CCOSC).

Commissioner Carroll has significant operational experience in emergency management and had led the QPS response through recent natural disasters and most significantly the unprecedented global pandemic, COVID-19. A key priority for her is leading transformational change within the QPS through the Service Alignment Program (SAP) in order to build a better, more efficient Service.

Throughout her career, Commissioner Carroll has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Australian Police Medal. Notably, she was awarded the National Telstra Businesswomen’s Award for Government and Academia in 2015 and named as one of the Australian Financial Review and Westpac’s “100 Women of Influence”. Commissioner Carroll believes in a life of continual study and holds several tertiary qualifications including an Executive Masters in Public Administration, a Degree in Criminology, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Management and an Honorary Doctor of Letters from James Cook University.

Commissioner Carroll has also been the recipient of the Sir Vincent Fairfax Scholarship in Ethical Leadership and the Sir James Wolfensohn Public Service Scholarship, to study at the prestigious Kennedy Business School, Harvard University.