According to Lynn Rowsell, staff members working for the Queensland Police Service (QPS) are in a unique position: they play a vital role that contributes to community safety and enjoy a broad range of career opportunities, all without the challenges of operational policing.
Over a time span of 50 years, Mrs Rowsell has led a rich and rewarding career that has seen her embrace many different roles and adapt to changing times, all within the one department.
Mrs Rowsell said coming to work for the QPS in the first place was purely a matter of luck.
“I simply applied for entrance to the Public Service and was allocated to the QPS. I didn’t get a choice,” Mrs Rowsell said.
“I have stayed with the QPS all this time despite being offered jobs in other departments, because this organisation has been more like a family and I have felt such a strong connection.”
She said working for the QPS had not only offered her variety, but also a strong sense she was contributing to her community.
“You know you are supporting people who make a difference. I didn’t realise how much this mattered to me, but it has shaped my life. I feel I have contributed something.
“The sense of justice also sat well with me. I’ve been a union rep, and I’m interested in standing up for the underdog and making sure people are not treated badly.
“No matter where you work in the organisation or what you are doing, it means something.
“I’ve never heard of another organisation that offers so many different career opportunities. It’s rare.”
Mrs Rowsell’s career with the QPS started on October 1, 1973, when the 15-year-old was offered a position as a stenographer at the Woolloongabba Police Station, which also served as the South Brisbane District Office.
Work in the QPS was vastly different in the 1970s, without computers, photocopiers or even electric typewriters.
Staff members were kept under close supervision, with permission needed to use the bathroom and time away from the desk monitored.
Wages were paid in cash, with Mrs Rowsell clearing $72 per fortnight.
Her duties included typing and shorthand, but whenever opportunities arose to relieve at different sections or stations within the South Brisbane District, she was the first to put her hand up.
She said embracing opportunities when they were offered was a strategy she adopted throughout her whole career.
“Taking up relieving opportunities, even when I felt unsure if I could do the job, gave me valuable experience and put me in a position to apply for other roles.
“I’ve always found that moving out of your comfort zone and starting a new job is so invigorating and helps you develop new strengths and confidence.”
Within five years, she was stenographer to the South Brisbane Regional Superintendent, working at the then-Police Headquarters building, which is now known as Makerston House.
The range of duties increased, and included typing up records of interviews and statements for the Internal Investigations section.
“Internal Investigations was interesting. I would go with the investigating inspectors in a police car with my manual typewriter and travel to various locations,” Mrs Rowsell said.
“I sat in on interviews with officers who were being investigated and had to type up the interviews live.
“When electric typewriters came in, it was a big thing.
“Then we had ‘Starwriters’, which were our first word processors where you could see one line at a time on a little screen. I typed faster than the technology allowed, and had to pause typing to wait for it to catch up.”
Technology did catch up though, with the arrival of computers eventually changing nearly every aspect of working life.
“The speed of change once computerisation came to the QPS was momentous,” Mrs Rowsell said.
“Before computerisation, officers didn’t have ready access to records and even struggled to get hold of a typewriter at times.
“A few Moncrieff terminals were introduced in stations initially, which gave access to QPS databases. But with so few terminals, people had to wait their turn to use them.
“Now we have computers on every desk.”
When Mrs Rowsell married at 21 years of age, she had to apply to continue working for the QPS, and her husband was vetted to ensure there were no criminal associations.
Mrs Rowsell accessed unpaid maternity leave when she began a family in 1984, but as no flexible work options existed to enable her to return to work part-time, she resigned from the QPS for a period.
She returned to the QPS as soon as flexible work options were available and worked part-time as an Administration Officer at Inala for several years.
By 1996 she was back to full time work and took the opportunity to relieve as a team member in the Metropolitan South training office.
With this experience, she was instrumental in developing the role of Regional Staff Development Officer, which kickstarted a decades-long passion for training.
“All staff members were mandated to have 30 hours training per year, but there was no formal structure to this,” Mrs Rowsell said.
“Supervisors also had little input into what kind of training their staff specifically needed and I could see there was great potential to improve the whole system of staff training.”
Mrs Rowsell completed a Bachelor of Further Education and Training part-time while she was working, and worked for several years in the Staff Member Development Program facilitating workshops statewide.
Improving training and promotion opportunities as well as working conditions for both staff members and police officers became a central theme driving her career trajectory.
She has either relieved in or been appointed to roles in the Career Planning Unit, Equity and Diversity Unit, Employee Wellbeing, Workforce Engagement and the Officer-in-Charge Program, and was deployed to perform roles during G20 and the COVID-19 response.
“Women were still struggling to be treated fairly, and people were reluctant to speak up.”
A particular highlight of her career has been her involvement in the QPS Women’s Network.
The network was established in the mid-1990s, and Mrs Rowsell took on the voluntary role of Metropolitan South Regional Coordinator in addition to her normal duties.
In 2007 she was appointed as the Women’s Network State Coordinator.
“Queensland was a different place in the 90s. Women were still struggling to be treated fairly, and people were reluctant to speak up,” Mrs Rowsell said.
“The QPS Women’s Network gave women a chance to share their thoughts and concerns.
“It also opened the door to networking opportunities outside the QPS which they may not have known about, such as the Australasian Council of Women and Policing (ACWAP) and the International Association of Women Police.
“As state coordinator, I had support from top management, a budget, four conferences per year to organise and a statewide reporting mechanism to establish.
“I was part of the working teams who instigated the QPS International Women’s Day Awards, a mentoring network and a pregnancy package to support women with flexible working arrangements.
“Much of the work started by the Women’s Network has now been incorporated into policy and general practice and contributes to all staff being accepted and valued. We still have a long way to go, but we are further along the path,” she said.
In 2008, Mrs Rowsell was recognised by ACWAP with a ‘Most Outstanding Female Administrator’ award, which was presented to her at the organisation’s annual conference in Sydney.
For the past two years, Mrs Rowsell has worked as Panel Chair for the Central Panels Unit, chairing sergeant and senior sergeant promotional selection panels.
She said one of the defining characteristics of working in any organisation over the span of 50 years was change.
“Change is a certainty. Without change there can be no advancement, and yet the tendency is to cling to what is known,” Mrs Rowsell said.
“If I was to offer advice to anyone, it would be to embrace change. I’ve seen people resist change, and I’ve done it myself, but your initial response doesn’t have to dictate how you move forward.
“Volunteer to be a part of the process, be willing to respond to surveys and have input into how change is implemented.
“If you can, try to move to a new position every few years to help overcome the fear of change.
“I’ve been able to do this in the QPS, and in every place I have worked, I have felt that I was contributing.”
Mrs Rowsell said that although society, technology and processes had changed over the past 50 years, one of the constants had been the motivation for those who choose to become Queensland Police officers.
“I’m reassured that the majority of people who put their hand up to be police do it because they truly want to help people. That has stayed the same,” she said.
Mrs Rowsell will celebrate her pending retirement in March, two days after International Women’s Day.
