Audrey Fagan
{{Short description|Australian police chief}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Audrey Fagan
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|APM}}
| image =
| caption =
| order = Chief police officer of ACT Policing
| term_start = 4 July 2005
| term_end = 20 April 2007
| predecessor = John Davies
| successor = Michael Phelan
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1962|6|23}}
| birth_place = Dublin, Ireland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2007|4|20|1962|6|23}}
| death_place = Hayman Island, Queensland, Australia
| death_cause = Suicide by hanging
| spouse =
| profession = Assistant Police commissioner
| religion =
| signature =
| footnotes =
}}
Audrey Ann Fagan {{post-nominals|country=AUS|APM}} (23 June 1962 – 20 April 2007{{cite news|first=David|last=Humphries|title=She set sights on a caring, helping role|date=27 April 2007|url =http://www.smh.com.au/news/obituaries/she-set-sights-on-a-caring-helping-role/2007/04/26/1177459870078.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1|work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}) was an Australian police officer. Between 2005 and 2007, she held the rank of Assistant Commissioner and served as the chief police officer of Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Policing, which includes community policing responsibilities for Canberra and other parts of the ACT. She was awarded the Australian Police Medal in 2004 . She died in office, having taken her own life by hanging herself while on a holiday.
Early years and background
Fagan was born in Ireland in 1962. Fagan and her parents, Arthur and Jenny, emigrated to South Australia in 1971, when Fagan was nine. She joined the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in 1981, at the age of 18.
Death
On the 20th of April 2007, Fagan died by suicide{{cite news|title=ACT police chief found dead|date=20 April 2007|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/act-police-chief-found-dead/2007/04/20/1176697095817.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=20 April 2007}} while holidaying on Queensland's Hayman Island. She was found hanged.{{cite news|title=ACT police chief found hanged on holiday island|date=22 April 2007|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/act-police-chief-found-hanged-on-holiday-island/2007/04/21/1176697161151.html|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=22 April 2007 }} The Queensland Police investigated her death and concluded there were no suspicious circumstances.{{cite news|first=Vikki|last=Campion|title=Top cop dead at luxury resort|date=20 April 2007|url=http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21593718-5001021,00.html|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=21 April 2007 }}
Assistant Commissioner Fagan was under scrutiny over the treatment of detainees in Canberra police cells after the ACT Ombudsman revealed details in February of a joint review to examine procedures in Canberra's watch house. It followed complaints made to the Ombudsman relating to the treatment of intoxicated detainees and those with a disability, failure to provide timely medical treatment and theft of property.
Two weeks before her death, Jack Waterford, the editor-at-large of The Canberra Times, wrote an editorial highly critical of the management of the AFP at that time, in which he opined that the ACT was "receiving a second-rate service at Rolls-Royce cost" and suggested that ACT Policing "was a complacent and unaccountable organisation of no great competence which is wide open to and may have already been percolated by corruption",{{cite news|title=Media review was in place|date=21 April 2007|url=http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=general&story_id=577648&category=general|work=The Canberra Times|access-date=22 April 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070910233357/http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news|archive-date=10 September 2007 }} allegations which were picked up by other ACT media outlets, including the ABC. AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty confirmed that Assistant Commissioner Fagan had felt under pressure as a result of the latest media attention and had sought professional support.{{cite news|title=Fagan felt pressure of criticism, Keelty says Police chief was in counselling|date=21 April 2007 |url=http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=general&story_id=577647&category=general|work=The Canberra Times|access-date=22 April 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070910233357/http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news|archive-date=10 September 2007 }}
Fagan is survived by her second husband Chris Rowell, daughter Clair from her previous marriage to Andrew Phillips,{{cite news|first=Susanna|last=Dunkerley|title='Awesome mum' solved all problems but her own|date=28 April 2007|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/awesome-mum-solved-all-problems-but-her-own/2007/04/27/1177459980613.html|work=The Age|access-date=28 April 2007|location=Melbourne}} and two step-children,{{cite news|last=Lemon|first=Barbara|date=2007-05-24|title=Fagan, Audrey Ann (1962 - 2007), Australian Police Medal|url=https://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE2703b.htm|access-date=2021-01-24}} Glen Charles Rowell and Carly.
A funeral with full police honours was held at St. Christopher's Cathedral, Manuka on the 27th of April 2007,{{cite news|first=Mark|last=Dodd|title=Final salute to top officer and mum|date=28 April 2007|url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21634363-2702,00.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121215202240/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21634363-2702,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 December 2012|work=The Australian}} after which Fagan was interred at a private family ceremony.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Australian Women and Leadership|WLE0333b}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-civ|pol}}
{{s-bef|before=John Davies}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chief police officer of ACT Policing|years=2005–2007}}
{{s-aft|after=Michael Phelan}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fagan, Audrey}}
Category:Chief Police Officers of ACT Policing
Category:Irish emigrants to Australia
Category:Suicides by hanging in Australia
Category:Suicides in Queensland