Christopher John Dawson is the 34th

Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutional ...

and a former

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

who was the

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

of the

Western Australia Police Force The Western Australia Police Force, colloquially WAPOL, provides police services throughout the state of Western Australia, an area of 2.5 million square kilometres, the world's largest non-federated area of jurisdiction, with a population ...

. He was sworn in as governor on 15 July 2022.

Police career

Dawson joined

Western Australia Police The Western Australia Police Force, colloquially WAPOL, provides police services throughout the state of Western Australia, an area of 2.5 million square kilometres, the world's largest non-federated area of jurisdiction, with a population ...

in February 1976 as a cadet. He was promoted to superintendent in 1999. The

2002 Queen's Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in su ...

saw him receive the

Australian Police Medal The Australian Police Medal (APM) is awarded for distinguished service by a member of an Australian police force. The APM was introduced in 1986, and replaced the Imperial Queen's Police Medal for Gallantry and Queen's Police Medal for Distinguis ...

. Dawson was appointed Deputy Commissioner in July 2004 under

Karl O'Callaghan Karl Joseph O'Callaghan (born 1956 in England) served from 2004 to 2017 as Commissioner of the Western Australia Police. Biography O'Callaghan was born in 1956 in England. In 1970 he moved with his family to Australia where he attended Kalamund ...

. Dawson led security arrangements at

CHOGM 2011 The 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, commonly known as CHOGM 2011, was the 22nd Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. Held in Perth, Western Australia, between 28 and 30 October 2011 and hosted by the Pr ...

. He left Western Australia Police in April 2014 to be Chief Executive Officer of the

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) is a law enforcement agency established by the Australian federal government on 1 July 2016, following the merger of the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) and CrimTrac. It has specialist i ...

. He was also Director of the

Australian Institute of Criminology The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) is Australia's national research and knowledge centre on crime and criminal justice. The Institute seeks to promote justice and reduce crime by undertaking and communicating evidence-based research ...

. He became the Commissioner of Western Australia Police in August 2017. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Dawson acted in a number of roles, including State Emergency Coordinator and Vaccine Commander. Dawson received an honourable send-off on 14 July 2022 at Western Australia Police headquarters after five years as commissioner.

Governor of Western Australia

On 4 April 2022,

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Mark McGowan Mark McGowan (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian politician, the 30th premier of Western Australia, and the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Labor Party. McGowan was born and raised in Newcastle, New South Wales. He attended t ...

announced Dawson as the replacement to

Kim Beazley Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 1996 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006, having previously been a cabinet ...

as the

, after

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, Queen of Australia, and the WA Cabinet endorsed Dawson's designation as the 34th Governor of Western Australia on the same day. He was sworn in on 15 July 2022 and was replaced as Police Commissioner by his former deputy Col Blanch. Dawson was the first police officer to be appointed as the Queen's representative for Western Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Chris Living people Commissioners of Western Australia Police Year of birth missing (living people) Recipients of the Australian Police Medal Governors of Western Australia