CONTENT WARNING:
This episode contains discussions of domestic violence, including descriptions of abusive behaviour and its impact. The content may be distressing or triggering for some listeners. If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence, please seek support from a professional or contact a local helpline such as 1800RESPECT.
Listener discretion is advised.
Acting Senior Sergeant Sharon Morgan has spent the better part of her policing career with the Queensland Police Service (QPS) assisting those in dangerous, abusive relationships and unsafe homes to safety.
Her empathetic approach and discernment of facts is a result not only of her training, but her own personal experience. Sharon is a victim-survivor.
Sharon met her now ex-partner at age 17, describing the beginning of their relationship as a ‘thrill’ to be dating a man in his early 20’s and his aptitude for gentlemanly behaviours.
After just a few months into their relationship, Sharon recalls the first night she was exposed to physical violence. From that moment, Sharon would be exposed to physical, emotional, financial abuse and coercive control for more than 7 years.
During this time, Sharon embarked on her career as an officer with QPS, hiding the abuse she suffered from her colleagues for years, until an occurrence which saw her Sergeant at the time respond and immediately intervene.
Now, Sharon uses her experience as a propeller to help those who find themselves in high-risk abusive relationships, through her role as Senior Sergeant in the Domestic and Family Violence and Vulnerable Persons Command (DFVVP) High Risk Team (HRT).
High Risk Teams are an integrated service response which work on a holistic approach to DFV in conjunction with external agencies.
These units determine high-risk cases by consideration of lethality factors to offer appropriate safety responses for victims and families of high-risk incidents of DFV across the state.
“As a police officer and someone who is a victim-survivor, you are so passionate about that space, I just want to make sure that I can help people still,” Sharon says.
“I wanted to join the police because I wanted to help people and I think in this area, I am able to do that.”
Domestic violence rates increased significantly in 2023 with more than 171,000 reports received by police in Queensland, with the Commission of Inquiry (COI) reporting approximately 80% of domestic and family violence (DFV) cases going unreported.
