Audrey Fagan

Audrey Ann Fagan APM (23 June 1962 – 20 April 2007[1]) was an Australian police officer, who, between 2005 and 2007, held the rank of Assistant Commissioner and served as the Chief Police Officer of Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Policing, which includes community policing responsibilities for Canberra and other parts of the ACT. Fagan was awarded the Australian Police Medal in 2004 and died in office, having committed suicide by hanging while on vacation.[1]

Audrey Fagan
APM
Chief Police Officer of ACT Policing
In office
4 July 2005 – 20 April 2007
Preceded byJohn Davies
Succeeded byMichael Phelan
Personal details
Born(1962-06-23)23 June 1962
Dublin, Ireland
Died20 April 2007(2007-04-20) (aged 44)
Hayman Island, Queensland, Australia
Cause of deathSuicide by hanging
ProfessionSenior Police Officer

Early years and background

Fagan was born in Ireland in 1962. Fagan and her parents, Arthur and Jenny, emigrated to South Australia in 1971, when Fagan was nine. She joined the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in 1981, at the age of 18.[1]

Death

On the 20th of April 2007, Fagan committed suicide[2] while holidaying on Queensland's Hayman Island. She was found hanged.[3] The Queensland Police investigated her death and concluded there were no suspicious circumstances.[4]

Assistant Commissioner Fagan was under scrutiny over the treatment of detainees in Canberra police cells after the ACT Ombudsman revealed details in February of a joint review to examine procedures in Canberra's watch house. It followed complaints made to the Ombudsman relating to the treatment of intoxicated detainees and those with a disability, failure to provide timely medical treatment and theft of property.

Two weeks before her death, Jack Waterford, the editor-at-large of The Canberra Times, wrote an editorial highly critical of the management of the AFP at that time, in which he opined that the ACT was "receiving a second-rate service at Rolls-Royce cost" and suggested that ACT Policing "was a complacent and unaccountable organisation of no great competence which is wide open to and may have already been percolated by corruption",[5] allegations which were picked up by other ACT media outlets, including the ABC. AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty confirmed that Assistant Commissioner Fagan had felt under pressure as a result of the latest media attention and had sought professional support.[6]

Fagan is survived by her second husband Chris Rowell, daughter Clair from her previous marriage to Andrew Phillips,[7] and two step-children,[8] Glen Charles Rowell and Carly.

A funeral with full police honours was held at St. Christopher's Cathedral, Manuka on the 27th of April 2007,[9] after which Fagan was interred at a private family ceremony.

References
  1. Humphries, David (27 April 2007). "She set sights on a caring, helping role". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  2. "ACT police chief found dead". The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 April 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
  3. "ACT police chief found hanged on holiday island". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 April 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2007.
  4. Campion, Vikki (20 April 2007). "Top cop dead at luxury resort". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 April 2007.
  5. "Media review was in place". The Canberra Times. 21 April 2007. Archived from the original on 10 September 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2007.
  6. "Fagan felt pressure of criticism, Keelty says Police chief was in counselling". The Canberra Times. 21 April 2007. Archived from the original on 10 September 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2007.
  7. Dunkerley, Susanna (28 April 2007). "'Awesome mum' solved all problems but her own". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
  8. Lemon, Barbara (24 May 2007). "Fagan, Audrey Ann (1962 - 2007), Australian Police Medal". Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  9. Dodd, Mark (28 April 2007). "Final salute to top officer and mum". The Australian. Archived from the original on 15 December 2012.
  • Audrey Fagan at The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia
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