 We represent the diverse community we see. I think about 10 years ago, but we never see an elderly guy trying to flag in front of police headquarters. I look in the mirror and I still see the old me because something doesn't go away. Even through my experience as a police officer, I still didn't recognise what I was going through as a domestic violence. It was horrible. I felt like I was selling my soul and we had to do a lot of things like this. We need to also have diverse range of people within our service. I hope to do it when the boys get better. It does get better. It does get better. It does get better. No such thing as an average night, I don't think. You never know what you're going to get. Sometimes there can be one to two arrests. Out of all those people on the nights, we can have up to 40 arrests in the one night. I'm going to require to stop walking away. As well as general duties, which is obviously my day-to-day role, I'm also doing a lot of education now, both within the community and within the police, around domestic violence in LGBTI communities. I'm fine with it now obviously because I talk about it, but back then I didn't want a person in the job to know about it. I was in a DV relationship myself some years ago now, so I guess that's where a lot of my passion comes from. A lot of my passion comes from when it comes to DV, especially in the LGBTI community. Thank you mate. Cheers. Domestic violence incidents where it's been a same-sex couple. They can be quite apprehensive about telling a police officer about their sexuality, so being able to say, you know, it's fine, I'm not going to judge you. Even in some cases I've actually told them that I'm going myself, and that just sort of gives them a bit more comfort knowing that they're not going to be treated inappropriately. I guess just being able to bring awareness to these issues and hopefully make some positive changes for LGBTI victims of DV. We've got 98 full labs and 13 by one, quite a lot. This is our normal day-to-day drug lab destruction day, so we do these once a quarter and we normally aim to do at least 100. We definitely feel a sense of achievement on a day like today because there's a lot of hard work that goes into us attending and processing these labs. They're dangerous, they're volatile, they're explosive, there are gases emitted that are odourless, colourless, and toxic, so you can't see them, you can't smell them, and they can kill you. You guys, we've got a big one behind you. Six tubs with 58 exhibits. Hugs are a dangerous thing to society. They ruin families, but just, it's horrid, and that's why I work at the drug squad. I've enjoyed my career immensely. I started as a constable. I'm now a Detective Senior Sergeant, so I've earned the respect that I've got, and I've worked hard to get where I am. We're going to audit this one, guys. Certainly being a lesbian in the police force wasn't easy years ago, but I would like to think and from what I've seen myself now, it's much easier. People who have not come across someone like myself definitely have questions. It's a very humbling thing to be one of the first transgender officers. It's a nice feeling to know that you're an example of positivity. It's recent here, as I've seen. Unfortunately, one of the bigger parts of the jobs up here is domestic violence, which is never a nice thing, but it seems that it's everywhere at this point. What's been going on? Wish to have it in time. With general interaction with the public, it's a mixed bag. There's a lot of disturbance-type jobs we get to. People's emotions are already high. That's okay. My concerns, obviously, something's happened. I need to find out if you're safe. Are you safe? Are you fearful for your safety? I know that they're going to use me and use what I am against me or try. I've come to the point where I don't take offence to any of it. It's just no point. I understand. It's a difficult thing. It's very difficult. That's right. Thank you. I won't take it personally. That was a salt police on it. On the plus side, there are people out there who will make comment of it in a very positive way. They can say, oh yeah, you're very brave, well done and good on you, you're a role model or something. Yeah, I guess in some respects I may be, but I don't class myself as that. I'm just doing a job with my own family and paying the bills. When I first started out, there were a lot of us on the Gold Coast with the girls, but we all hit it because it was frowned upon. We would have been teased as we were. Morning! How are you? Anything on good? Anything happening? The management were all old men and they weren't very supportive and they had a particular personal view about women being in the police force anyway. There was a small group of the men bosses that were pretty good to us, but there was a core group that were just vile. For me it just became, I got sick of the lies, I got sick of pretending to be something that I wasn't. And once you told everyone, it was sort of yesterday's news, so initially it was a big thing, but after a while no one really cares. And nowadays it's totally different. It's a much happier workplace. Ten years ago I'd be sitting in the car with my partner and I'd have to tell them lies about where I'd been on the weekend. I couldn't tell them that I'd been out to gay bars and things like that. I'd be up to two, four, six, life centre. I couldn't tell them that I had a boyfriend. I couldn't tell them anything. It was always either lying about where I'd been on the weekend or I'd be telling them that I had a girlfriend instead of a boyfriend. Just come out here for me away from that knife. Ended up in, I guess, a web of lies. I suggest you don't joke about killing people. Obviously going from that one extreme of lying to now being able to be completely myself at work and not having to ever worry about telling a lie. It's amazing. I guess, for me, it's like a double life. While I'm at work, obviously I'm wearing a uniform. Out of uniform when I'm going home or I go down to the local shops. Yeah, look, I'm as nervous as any other transgender person. It's actually coming to a point where I just want to be in the uniform all the time. There's definitely, like, a public perception of transgender people. I think on the back of that stigma, we put our own barriers in our place that might be for me, it might be anxiety because, how will I be perceived? Or will the next job all kick off in the wrong way? For other transgender people, it might be do I look convincing enough? That's the key to everything. Do you feel convincing? Or is the world staring at you as if you're a freak? I had to get to a stage in my life for my transition where I was confident enough to be able to go out of my own and do daily things. So who have we got here then? All the kids. Miss Dean Jones. You'll never get rid of them then. No, that's it. Enjoy your walks. The uniform, I mean, as I stand now or, you know, ready to go and do all the things, it certainly gives me a a sense of strength, if you like. My name's Session A. I'm a detective senior sergeant and police. I'm the officer in charge of the synthetic drug operations unit state crime command. So we'll look at the drugs, items, anything to do with the manufacture of drugs. Oh, it's a thrill to lead a team like this because it's a cohesive unit. We've got each other's backs. We're friends. But at a scene like that today, obviously we have roles and responsibilities and as the team leader, as the detective senior sergeant, it's my responsibility to make sure that we all get there in one piece and we all go home in one piece and that no one's injured in any way. I'd like to think that they see me as approachable because the senior officers when I was junior were not approachable. I'd like to think that that is changing. We've got some senior women and men now in executive positions and senior management roles that identify and are proud to identify that it's quite normal to be gay or bi or whatever. No one really cares as long as you come to work, put in your eight hours, do your job well. That's what we're after. Within the service, we've come a long, long way in ten years. Obviously going from being in the closet and being terrified of being out in the service to obviously the position I'm in now where I'm out and proud and not afraid to be myself at work. I can hopefully promote the change that we have changed. Things are moving on, QPS has moved on, they've acknowledged the fact they've got things wrong and I'm trying to prove to people that QPS has accepted me or they can accept you too if you give them the chance. As you can see from my team the majority of them are men and they're a little older than me so they've probably not had as much exposure to LGBTI as I have and I think it's been beneficial for them to see that there's a lesbian who's our boss but she's pretty cool, she does a good job she treats us well and so it doesn't become an issue ever. Those that are out now and are comfortable being out is fantastic. We're one of our special ears fans with your beautiful outfit. Never in my whole career did I think I would be standing at Big Gay Day in uniform with a gay pride patch but it's a fantastic step forward in the right direction to the Queensland Police Service. People have come up and said that it's been great to see how involved the police are getting now and the visibility that we've got with the LGBTI liaison officer program and how that affects them and how much of a positive step it is for them to see the work we're doing. It's important. Important to me as a gay woman it's important to men as a gay man that the community knows that we're here to support them. The young people we've got to nurture through their experiences and their journeys because ultimately they're the ones who are going to be paving away down the line in 10, 15 years time so we need to get it right for them. I would say to young people times can be tough they will be tough but there's always people up there to help you no matter what. I think it gets better because people are aware that it's okay I think it gets better because there's been legislative change to make support easier to access and I think it gets better because people care and people will look after you. There's a world of support out there don't be afraid, go and talk to a doctor talk to a psychologist or go and see PCYC, get in touch with someone there get your mums and dads involved I know that's a difficult thing and sometimes it's the harder thing but don't be afraid. Just be yourself and be happy it's like a giant weight lift soft shoulders but know that there is people there the biggest thing I can say you're not on your own we care, we've been there it's hard but you can do it.