Bob Falconer APM
Strathbogie & Euroa Ambassador
Bob Falconer was born in Scotland, raised and educated in Shepparton and is a proud naturalized Australian. He spent 31 years with the Victoria Police (1963 to 1994). He had a much diversified operational career in general duties, traffic and criminal investigation before promotion to commissioned rank in 1984. Appointed as an Assistant Commissioner in 1989 he headed up the Internal Investigations portfolio and then the Crime Command. In 1992 he became Deputy Commissioner (Operations) responsible for the total operational activities of the then 10,000 sworn members of Victoria Police.
That same year he was awarded the Australian Police Medal (APM) for distinguished service to policing. In 1994 he took up a five year term as Commissioner for Police in Western Australia; their first ever external appointment. He presided over a radical and profound change program at police, introduced Crime Stoppers to WA and chaired the Traffic Board and the State Emergency Management Committee.
During his tour the WA Police went from the lowest to the highest in the annual national poll on ethics and honesty in policing. He is a founding partner and Chairman of STOPline Pty Ltd whose core business is the provision of external hotlines for use by internal whistleblowers in both public and private sector organisations. The company also conducts corruption and misconduct investigations. Bob has written articles for the Herald Sun, the Age and Security industry magazines. He was a member of the Victorian Community Council on Crime and Violence (2001 - 2007) and is a Rotary Paul Harris fellow. Bob resides in Hawthorn East with his wife of over 40 years, Sylvia. They have three adult offspring and five grandchildren.