Sandra Nicholson was Assistant Commissioner at Victoria Police for five years, but her journey through the ranks in the 1980s wasn’t easy.
In a male-dominated force, she faced resistance from some of her colleagues but refused to back down.
“Most of them were really good, but from the attitude of some I’d definitely say they they had never encountered a female in charge,” Nicholson said.
Ex-cop Sandra Nicholson shares her story on Crime Insiders:
Nicholson recalls a pivotal moment when a superior suggested she wasn’t interested in promotion.
“He said to me, ‘I’ve heard something about you.’ And I said, ‘oh, yeah, what’s that?‘ And he said ‘that you’re very happy where you are and that you don’t want promotion.’ And I said, ‘and that would have been a man who told you that.‘ He just looked at me and smiled and I said ‘I will be sitting for the promotion board, yes.’ And I did, and I got the job.”
As she stepped into a leadership role, officers told her she wouldn’t need to make decisions.
“A couple of them pulled me inside and said ‘the good thing about you coming out here is that you won’t need to make any decisions. We’ll make them for you.‘”
“I just thought—give it your best shot,” she said.
Once when Nicholson earned another promotion, a police officer favoured by his colleagues put in an appeal. In the process of writing her appeal brief, one officer approached her at an event.
“One of them asked how my brief was going. I said, ‘Not too well actually.’“
Nicholson suggested the man replied sarcastically, “Oh, that’s not good.”
“‘No I’ve got so many statements of support, I’m not sure what ones to put in,’” she said, “The appeal was withdrawn the next day.”
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