Queensland's top cop has announced she's stepping down at the end of next week. Katarina Carroll was appointed the state's police commissioner in 2019 becoming the first woman to hold the role.
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00:00 The Police Commissioner has made this decision because she did not want to seek a further
00:07 extension of her contract which was due to end in July of this year and she could not
00:12 commit to potentially a further three years in the top job.
00:16 So she's decided to step down now and she will step away a little bit earlier than what
00:20 she was due to.
00:21 So she's going to actually finish up on March the 1st.
00:24 Friday March the 1st will be Katerina Carroll's last day in the top job as the Police Commissioner.
00:29 She's had an outstanding career though if you look back at it.
00:34 She began in the Queensland Police Service 41 years ago when she went to the Academy
00:40 and decided to become a police officer.
00:42 She was from far north Queensland.
00:43 She grew up in a small town in far north Queensland.
00:45 She was the daughter of Croatian immigrants and she rose up the ranks.
00:50 She ended up heading up security for the G20 Summit in 2014 and then took over as the Commissioner
00:57 for the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services and then as Police Commissioner of Queensland
01:03 in 2019.
01:04 And this announcement comes after months of scrutiny.
01:09 Yes that's right and there's no doubt that there has been a lot of unrest within the
01:12 Queensland Police Service and she had lost confidence of some officers in the Queensland
01:18 Police Service that's for sure.
01:19 A contact I've been speaking to today told me that yes that she had there was a lot of
01:25 heightened speculation about it but she lost support of the locker room really is the words
01:30 used and police were upset with the separations of power.
01:34 There wasn't enough of that separation and that police felt she didn't push back enough
01:39 against the government at times either.
01:42 She didn't fight for police but look Katarina Carroll she did talk a little bit about her
01:48 career just before and here's what she had to say.
01:53 It truly has been an honour and a privilege to not only serve as a police officer but
01:59 to lead an organisation of more than 17,000 amazing staff.
02:05 I'm exceptionally grateful for the opportunity to be the 20th Commissioner of Police.
02:11 I believe it is time to allow new leadership to guide the organisation forward.
02:17 So Roz she wants to be remembered Katarina Carroll would like to be remembered as a compassionate
02:22 leader that cared about her people and Queensland.
02:26 [BLANK_AUDIO]