Our People
16 November, 2025
Ararat officer honoured with award for the fight against family violence
An Ararat-based Victoria Police officer has been recognised for her outstanding work supporting survivors of family violence, taking home one of the state’s policing honours. Senior Sergeant Simone Field, the Western Region Family Violence Training Officer, received the Family Violence Practitioner of the Year Award at the Glenn Paton Family Violence, Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Practitioner of the Year Awards, held at the Victoria Police Centre on Wednesday, October 29th.
The awards, run by Victoria Police’s Family Violence Command, recognise employees who have gone above and beyond in their work across family violence, sexual offences, and child abuse investigations.
Senior Sergeant Field has been based in Ararat since July 2018, managing family violence matters and working as the Family Violence Training Officer for the region. She has also played a key role in the ongoing coaching and support for operational members. Simone also significantly contributed to Victoria Police’s family violence reform by delivering a full suite of 30 training packages of family violence training.
On receiving the award, Simone said I’m very honoured to receive this award and it’s an absolute privilege for me to turn up to work every day and hopefully contribute in some way to better outcomes for our most vulnerable community members, especially women and children,” she said. “Family violence, unfortunately, forms a huge part of what our frontline members respond to every day, so it’s critical they get the training they need to respond to often very complex family violence incidents.”
Family Violence Training Officers are embedded within every police division to coach operational members, provide ongoing support, and deliver local face-to-face training. “All our family violence training officers work tirelessly right across the state to support training and upskill members,” Senior Sergeant Field said.