Lauren Callaway grew up in Sale and joined Victoria Police in 1994 after completing a cadetship as a newspaper journalist in the Latrobe Valley and giving up on artistic ambitions to be a graphic designer or fine arts student. Envisaging a lifetime of financial subsistence, her parents breathed a sigh of relief.

After working operational duties in Melbourne, Ballarat and Geelong, Lauren took promotion to sergeant in the Intelligence and Covert Support Department (ICSC) where she spent six years involved in forensic intelligence, special projects and establishing the Sex Offenders Registry. The latter provided national exposure to an Australian wide offender tracking scheme, and also afforded her the privilege of working overseas with police in the United Kingdom.

Lauren spent a year in the Crime Department as an Acting Inspector establishing the first iteration of the Violence Against Women and Children Strategy Group, then four years at Professional Standards, followed by a Local Area Command role at Glen Eira Bayside. She returned to Intelligence and Covert Support Command as a Superintendent to manage the Offender Management Division and focused her efforts on an expanded post sentencing scheme to include both violent and the most serious of sex offenders.

In 2018 she took on a Commander role at People Development Command where she worked on developing the organisational education strategy, leading the specialist training areas and producing quality outcomes in education and training. Returning to the Academy environment was certainly a challenge to her memories of having survived recruit training 25 years earlier. Luckily times have changed!

In 2020 she took up a new role as Assistant Commissioner of Family Violence Command, where what matters most to her in a policing sense is aligned to her role and my values, especially her thinking on gender equality.

In 2021 Lauren stepped down from 11 years on the Board of Victoria Police Legacy, where her goal as chair for the past five years was simply to create a culture of compassion.

Things that she is proud of – writing a book on Aboriginal jockey Darby McCarthy titled Against All Odds, running three marathons and raising a considerate hard-working daughter. Lauren is specifically proud of the professional development and career planning work for colleagues, which is inclusive of all but very much tailored to helping women be more successful in policing.