FAIR COP: CHRISTINE NIXON

 

by Christine Nixon with Jo Chandler

"This is an entwined story of a personal and professional journey. It's about policing as a vocation, and the private and political adventures that invites. It's about recognising duty, embracing responsibility and facing adversity. It's about discovering that even when you assume you have seen it all, there can still be much to learn." - Christine Nixon

Christine Nixon became the first female Chief Commissioner of Police in Australia, appointed to head Victoria Police at a most crucial time-the underworld was in the midst of a bloody war, the spectre of terrorism was emerging as a powerful new threat, and there was a stench of internal corruption.

In this frank and engaging memoir, Christine Nixon reflects on the journey of a woman deep into a man's world, describing the experiences that shaped her commitment to a model of policing as a community service, one committed to caring for society's most vulnerable. She explores the challenges of managing a police force through a period of profound social and cultural change, explains the hidden tensions at the front line of politics and policing and exposes the dynamics of a poisonous culture war within police ranks.

Fair Cop candidly shares the public and private stories of Christine Nixon-woman, spouse, citizen, constable-on a journey that encounters tragedy, corruption, ambition and humility. In its final chapters, it takes readers inside the events of Black Saturday, the disasters that would so cruelly scar the state of Victoria, claim so many lives, and test Christine Nixon as nothing before. It tracks the intimate story of her days before the Bushfires Royal Commission and recounts her efforts, as head of the Victorian Bushfires Reconstruction and Recovery Authority, to renew ravaged communities.

Jo Chandler is a senior writer with The Age, writing in-depth reports and analysis across a broad spectrum of topics, with particular interests in humanitarian and women's issues, aid and development, Indigenous affairs, and climate change, about which she has recently written a book, Feeling the Heat. She lives in Melbourne and has two teenage children.