Superintendent, Quality Education Division, Victoria Police Academy

Richard joined Victoria Police in 1981. He started out in general duties working at inner-city Melbourne Stations before becoming a detective at the Fraud Squad. As a sergeant, Richard returned to uniform duties, again at an inner-city station, before working on an internal investigation task force. He returned to the Fraud Squad as a sergeant. Richard then worked as a policy officer at the Ethical Standards Department and worked on a number of projects, including the development of an Organised Crime Strategy. Promoted to inspector at the then Traffic and Transit Safety Department Richard was involved in developing road policing strategies as well as working on a number of projects. From 2006 until 2010 he was in charge of the Major Collision Investigation Group responsible for the investigation of culpable driving offences across all Victoria. As a superintendent, Richard was in charge of the Victoria Police Business Intelligence and Performance Division responsible for the provision of corporate statistics and the running of CompStat. From 2014 to 2019 Richard was in charge of the Eastern Region’s Division One responsible for policing services to just short of 700,000 people across four LGAs. In 2019 Richard took up a position at the People Development Command where he manages the Quality Education Division ensuring Victoria Police training programs meet the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority standards.

Richard was previously a member of the Victoria Police Historical Society and served several years on the Committee including as the Vice President. He taught part-time at La Trove University for ten years in the Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma programs in Fraud Investigation. Richard is currently a Board member of Road Trauma Support Services Victoria, a position he has held since 2014. Richard has a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Crim Just Admin) RMIT, Master of Criminology Degree Melb and a Master of Public Policy and Management degree Melb. He was awarded the APM in the Queens Birthday Honours in 2012. In 2018 Richard was awarded the prestigious Robin Clark Leadership Award at the Victorian Protecting Children Awards. The award was presented by the Minister for Families and Children for work done to reduce the criminalisation of children in Residential Out of Home Care.