Sophie Conlon
An unusual jump from specialist to general policing saw Superintendent Cheryl Brown rise to become South Australia Police’s first female Officer in Charge of the Limestone Coast Local Service Area.
Supt Brown began policing in 1988 and was a forensic services crime scene investigator for 25 years, before making the switch that many would consider a step down.
“I just so enjoyed the collaborative nature of policing that I made the decision to become a commissioned officer,” she said.
“I’ve been able to work in so many different areas, I’ve worked in our commissioners support area working the executive, specialist areas, metropolitan operations and regional policing now.”
She has also worked overseas providing emergency responses after natural disasters and has delivered leadership training across Australia and internationally.
“To be to be perfectly honest, when I joined the police force I never really thought of myself as becoming a police officer, I thought of myself as using my science degree,” she said.
“Looking back on where I began, it’s once you become passionate and engaged in what you can actually achieve, the door opens, and you can see all sorts of other opportunities.
“I would never have perceived that I would be the first female commander of the largest regional policing district for South Australia, I would never have seen that back in 1988.”
Supt Brown said she loved that she could look back at her journey and see it as an inspiration for people.
“I love where I am and who I am,” she said.
“I love it, because of the fact that I can influence people, not by anything I do, but of what I’ve been able to do.
“And so I can sit here as a representation for all other women, not just my workforce, but the women in the community.”
When she began policing, less than five per cent of officers were female and Supt Brown has seen barriers for women in the force start to dissolve.
She said in the late 80s there was a perception that women would have trouble in traumatic or difficult circumstances, but she was able to overcome this stereotype.
“Working in forensics, my role was to deal with traumatic things, we went to very difficult things all the time so from that perspective, demonstrating that resilience, and very quickly what I found was that you can break past those barriers if you just simply show people who you are and what you can do,” she said.
“I don’t think I ever faced a hurdle that lasted terribly long, where someone said, ‘well you’re female, you won’t be able to do something,’ because very quickly I was able to show them being female had absolutely nothing to do with what my capabilities were.”
She said it felt good to show her value, but it felt better that people started treating her the same and there were no less expectations because of her gender.
“I can come to work and do the same job, have the same expectations; that’s what made me feel good, to be able to feel part of the family to have that same sense of belonging,” she said.
Breaking barriers early in her career, when Supt Brown had children she became the first woman senior sergeant to work part time in forensics.
“I took that part time arrangement from being a Senior Constable through being promoted to sergeant went through being promoted into Senior Sergeant,” she said.
“By then as a senior sergeant, I had two young children and it gave me that ability to have work life balance.
“I had very good managers who saw that and said, ‘well let’s help you through that process’.”
Wanting more from her career, Supt Brown is the only female officer to move from forensics to operational policing.
“I realised there’s so much more that is achieved out of operational policing, we have a greater influence with the community,” she said.
Supt Brown said there was an advantage to being a woman in leadership, in having this lived experience as well as empathy and compassion.
“It also needs to be understood that women do bring something unique,” she said.
“That’s not to say any male member of the police force couldn’t do the same, they can now and they could at any point in time, but I think that I’ve always been very proud and happy to be able to say that, that yes, I’ve gone through those processes and so therefore I can understand.”
She said there was also an advantage to being a policewoman, as it brought diversity to the force and helped reflect the community.
“The police workforce needs to actually be a reflection of what the community is, that way we have a much better understanding of the community, how to help the community, how to engage with the community, and then have that level of community respect as well,” she said.
Becoming the first female Officer in Charge of the Limestone Coast Local Service Area only four months ago was a moment of reflection for Supt Brown.
“I bring decades of experience but we can put that decades of experience now to one side and say from this point forward, what I am is but a reflection of what can be achieved,” she said.
While she was proud to say she was the first, Supt Brown said she would like to see a point in time where achievements like this were not extraordinary.
“I want it to be a normality for what women are doing and achieving in the community and in policing, so that we don’t have to be the first to have done that any longer,” she said.
“We can say, ‘oh, yes, I am the superintendent Limestone Coast and there have been other females that have gone before me’.”
Agreeing there were more chips in the glass ceiling to break away, Supt Brown said there needed to be more flexibility and understanding for working mothers.
“What we need to stop saying is someone can’t do that, because they can only come to work a couple of days a week, well, in that couple of days week, they can do a very, very good job.
“If my manager went back in 1990s, and said to me, ‘you want to work part time and raise a family. Well, you’re not going to have any of these opportunities’, I would not be sitting here today and then that would be a loss.
For people just getting their start, Supt Brown said do not let “no” get in your way.
“I’ve had probably no said to me more times than I’ve had yes, but I’ve still been able to make it to this role,” she said.
“No is only a point in time, it’s not the end of the story.”
