Peter Benn

Peter commenced his policing career in 2000 and has since worked in general patrols, Traffic Response, the Police Call Centre, Recruiting and the Police Academy Foundation Training Centre. In 2016, Peter commenced his role at the South Australia Police (SAPOL) Portfolio Unit, which incorporated the Mental Health Portfolio. At the time it was purely a strategic and corporate function, reporting at a higher level on the police response to mental health incidents. Since that time, Peter has managed to evolve the portfolio into a more ‘hands on’ role, providing leadership, guidance and procedural advice to frontline police and managers, whilst still maintaining an appropriate level of governance and oversight of SAPOL’s mental health responsibilities. Peter sees that the scope of the Fellowship will assist him to further develop his skills in effectively guiding and supporting police members who are constantly being challenged by confronting mental health incidents and suicide intervention in the course of their duties.