Dave Cowan

Superintendent, Southern Metro Region Support Services Division

Superintendent Dave Cowan has been with Victoria Police for 26 years and has experience as a detective and a prosecutor and has lead a range of reforms in the summary criminal justice system. He currently manages the Community Safety Division within the Corporate Strategy and Operational Improvement Department. The Division comprises of 5 Units including the Drug and Alcohol Strategy Unit, the Victims Advisory Unit, the Safer Communities Unit, Diversion Alignment Project and the newly formed Policing Innovation and Research Unit.

Prior to moving to the current role, Dave lead a range of organisational wide reviews including a review of Counter Terrorism leading to the establishment of the CT Command. He lead a review of persons in police custody which resulted in the reclassification of all custody facilities state-wide and cells upgrades at 80 locations. He lead a governance review of Family Violence which resulted in the establishment of the first Family Violence Command in Australia. He also reviewed volume crime scene services in Victoria Police and implemented the Frontline Volume Crime Strategy. Dave recently lead the development of the Victoria Police Corporate Plan 2016 -2018 which shapes the future direction of the organisation aligned to the Blue Paper.

Dave has a Graduate Diploma in Executive Leadership and in 2013 was awarded the Australian Institute of Police Management, Australasian Policing Scholarship where he undertook studies at the JFK Harvard Kennedy School of Government.