Biography: Barbara Etter

Barbara Etter is currently the Assistant Commissioner of the Traffic and Operations Support (TOPS) Command with the Western Australia Police Service (WAPS). Prior to this she spent six months as Assistant Commissioner, Professional Development, within WAPS.

Before coming to WA, she was a Commander with the Northern Territory Police and the Director of the Australasian Centre for Policing Research in Adelaide, on secondment from NT Police, from 1999 to 2004.

Barbara holds a Pharmacy degree, an Honours law degree, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) 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 Service 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 qualifications.

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