As the first female Detective in Redcliffe District CIB, Melissa has extensive experience as a regional Detective primarily investigating rape offences including those committed in marriage and domestic, and family violence (DFV) homicides. Melissa holds post-graduate qualification in DFV. In 2007 Melissa was appointed as the Officer in Charge of Redcliffe Police Prosecutions and was the lead DFV prosecutor.

In 2015 Melissa was appointed to Senior Strategy Officer and assisted in leading the QPS implementation activities associated with the recommendations of the Not Now: Not Ever Report. Melissa is currently the Inspector Manager of the State DFV & Vulnerable Persons Unit, and she was instrumental in implementing the DFV Specialist Courts, being the first specialist DFV courts established in Queensland, earning a joint agency Prime Ministers award for innovation and collaboration in a high performing initiative. Melissa has recently provided evidence at the Commission of Inquiry into Police responses to DFV, led the development of DFV specialist and frontline training for the QPS with academics and leading non-government organisations, and has recently returned from the 2023 International Domestic Family and Sexual Violence Conference in Chicago. Melissa is a member of two external Boards to enhance collective responses to DFV. Her experiences instilled a desire to improve the system to change the outcomes for women and children and hold perpetrators to account.