Continuing to Serve – the Veterans finding new purpose with Victoria Police
When Carlie Prictor was in year 10 at Castlemaine High School in central Victoria in the 1990s, she completed a work experience placement with emergency service workers. From that moment on she knew a life in the services was for her, especially the police force.
But when she graduated from High School the thought of becoming a police officer while still a teenager was daunting. Carlie felt she didn’t have enough life experience for the role. When a friend enlisted in the Navy, she decided it would be the best way to get the life experience she was lacking, while also serving the community.
“There were no wars then,” Carlie said. “So, I figured it would be a good way to see the world and get some life experience that would set me up for a career with the police.”
She enlisted in 1999 and after training was deployed to HMAS Canberra. On 11 September 2001 she was in a bar in Cairns, about to depart for the Solomon Islands, watching as the twin towers fell in New York City.
She knew at once that her time in the Navy was going to be a lot different than she had first thought. Within months she was on HMAS Canberra bound for the Persian Gulf in support of the looming US led invasion of Iraq.
“We had a great crew on Canberra,” Carlie said. “We worked really well together, everyone got along.”
Carlie got life experience beyond anything she had ever imagined. HMAS Canberra replaced HMAS ANZAC and spent six months in the Gulf, intercepting vessels as conflict in the region continued to escalate.
“It was a very volatile time,” Carlie said. “We just wanted to try and make sure we didn’t start an international incident!”
Carlie returned from the Middle East and took up a position at HMAS Harmon in Canberra convinced she had the best job in the world and looking forward to a career in the Navy. But at the same time her husband, who was serving in the Australian Army, said he wanted to start a family. Carlie realised she wanted this as well but knew that she didn’t want to deploy at sea when she had a baby.
It was at this point that her ambition to join the police was rekindled as she sought a way to find some stability while continuing to serve.
“I did an aptitude test in Canberra and then flew back to Melbourne for the psych, fitness and interview, which was a really nerve-racking experience. But when I did the interview, the officer read my resume and just wanted to know what it was like serving in the Gulf. He was so excited to speak to someone from the Navy I had to ask him to get on with the interview.”
By the time the interview was over the interviewer told Carlie he was not meant to say anything but let slip “you are in.”
Carlie discharged from the navy on 13 September 2005 and started at the Police Academy in Melbourne just three weeks later on 3 October.
Since then, Victoria Police has recognised the skills and experience members of the defence forces bring with them and have waived the entrance exam for Australian Defence Force personnel who’ve worked full-time within the last five years.
“Anyone coming from the ADF has already shown a commitment to a higher duty, they’re already disciplined and have the basic training needed to be successful within Victoria Police,” said Victoria Police recruiter Paul Morgan.
The entrance exam waiver for members of the ADF was introduced in March 2025 and since that time 167 people with ADF qualifications have been given the exemption.
For Carlie the gap in experience between herself and other recruits at the Police Academy was obvious.
“For the first 12 months it was difficult to adjust to the people around me who were essentially just civilians in uniform and had little life experience. There was one recruit who was 19 years old who told me he was going out to the pub with his mates, and I asked him who was going to wash his uniform. He said oh, yeah, I guess I’ll stay back.”
For another veteran turned police officer, Steve Cook, the real attraction of the police force was the opportunity to serve in an organisation which had shared values with the defence forces.
Steve joined the Royal Australian Navy at HMAS Leeuwin at the age of 15 in 1983, before being deployed on Destroyers which took him around the Asia Pacific including Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Hawaii.
When Steve made the decision to leave the Navy in 1994 it was the camaraderie that he missed the most. His initial contact with the RSL was not good as he found many of the Second World War veterans didn’t consider him a real veteran because he had not served in a war zone.
When deciding what to do next, Steve thought about an uncle who was working as a police dog handler in the United Kingdom. Steve was attracted to the potential excitement of his uncle’s job, and he also missed being part of a service organisation helping the community. Two years after discharging from the Navy he was accepted into the Police Academy.
“For me the transition was easy. It was a paramilitary organisation so a lot of it was familiar in terms of the marching and the uniform.”
But as he approaches thirty years in the force, he says there are differences too.
“Sometimes the Navy could have periods of routine. But in the police every day is different,” said Steve Cook. “You can have the best fun one day and attend the worst tragedy the next.”
Steve welcomes the decision of Victoria Police to do away with the entrance exam for defence force veterans.
“It’s a great approach from Victoria Police. It takes away the anxiety for veterans about whether they are good enough to join. The police force wants people with the leadership and skills of veterans, so everything should be done to encourage veterans to join.”
Steve has worked right across the western suburbs of Melbourne in everything from highway patrol to frontline patrol and recruitment. Now a Sergeant he says there are some great recruits direct out of high school, but life experience can make all the difference.
“Sometimes we have to go into houses with violent men,” Steve said. “We need to be able to make judgement calls based on the kind of experience we received in the ADF.”
Victoria police recruiter says younger recruits who succeed at Victoria Police often come with experience as a volunteer.
“We have people applying at the age of 18 and they’re very, very successful in what they do,” said Paul Morgan. “Many of them have shown life experience through volunteer work whether it be the SES or the CFA. They’re already involved in emergency management, and they can bring those skills, qualities and experience to the table.”
Victoria Police have a rigorous training program for younger recruits to gain the sort of life experiences which will make them better police. But recruiting veterans is a valuable way of bringing in high-quality recruits.
“We are a paramilitary organisation so it’s similar but a bit different as well,” said Paul Morgan. “If they can bring their life and experience and they’re already trained then they’re going to be successful within the police academy, which can be a stressful time for some people.”
For Steve Cook the decision to join the police force after leaving the Navy was the best decision he could have made.
“I don’t regret it for a day,” Steve said. “It is a fantastic job, front row seat to the greatest show on Earth. It is different every day, in the morning you could be dealing with a shop lifter and in the afternoon at a critical incident making life and death decisions.”
For Carlie Prictor being a member of the police force also gave her the ability to be a parent to children in a more stable environment. She and her husband had two children as she started her career at Sunbury police station, and he left the Army to join the Fire Brigade. The flexibility the police force offered allowed her to keep her career going, eventually moving across to the sex offenders and child abuse team before becoming an Investigator with the Financial Crimes Squad, popularly known as the Fraud Squad.
“Being a member of the police force meant that I was able to keep that sense of purpose that I had in the Navy,” Carlie said. “I have a sense of belonging and of making a difference in the community.”
Steve Cook believes the RSL can always do more to attract veterans and defence force reservists.
“I know of at least six or seven men and women in my service area with the police that are serving or have served in the ADF,” he said. “None of them belong to the RSL. A lot talk about it but find it hard to take that first step to get involved.”
He believes greater engagement with all police members, not just veterans, is an important way forward for the RSL.
“The military and the police have the same self-deprecating humour. We love taking the piss out of our mates and they have a shared experience of working in high pressure environments while serving the community. As an organisation the RSL needs to find a way to let emergency service workers know they have somewhere to go where they will be accepted and be with like-minded people.”
