Melton Local Area Commander Inspector Lisa Prentice-Evans felt “very shocked and a little bit emotional” when she heard she was nominated for an Australian Police Medal, which recognises her impactful work across a 26-year career.
Inspector Prentice-Evans was recognised in the King’s Birthday honours for her distinguished service as a member of Victoria Police, where she has worked in demanding operational and frontline positions.
She was acknowledged for her leadership in response to the Exford Primary School bus collision in 2023, where she immediately attended the scene to command the police and emergency response.
She also took on road safety advocacy to the state government following the incident and supported initiatives to rebuild the school community and the local community’s recovery.
The medal also recognises her ability to work closely with local government and stakeholders and that she has been instrumental in building strong relationships and understanding between culturally and linguistically diverse communities and the Victoria Police.
While “born and bred in the western suburbs,” Inspector Prentice-Evans said she has worked across frontline, operational, and general duties roles in Prahran, Malvern, East Melbourne, Moonee Ponds, and Dandenong.
Working as an inspector in the City of Melbourne, her role included liaising with protest organisers and aiming to promote the least disruption for the community while also allowing them to protest peacefully and implementing an appropriate police response.
During the Covid lockdowns, she also worked in the specialist operations division, dealing with higher-level events including the Australian Open and larger-scale demonstrations.
She said that as the Melton local area commander, looking after Caroline Springs and Melton uniformed police, the team and community she works with are what she enjoys most about her role.
“The team that I lead are the most amazing bunch of people, they work really, really hard … it’s … really quite [a] challenging area to work [in] … but we’ve also got a really great community, so for me, the team that I have the pleasure of working with every day are by far the most rewarding part of my job,” Inspector Prentice-Evans said.
She said that the way in which her team, highway patrol detectives, and other divisions of the Melton service area work together is “second-to-none,” and that the police have strong connections with local schools, shopping centres, local government, other emergency services, and politicians.
“It’s a real shared purpose, when I look at how we engage with the community, everyone’s sort of going in the same direction. So, for me, it makes my job a lot easier as the local area commander to have that support and same purpose,” she said.
She said that the engagement with local schools is assisted by a well-connected neighbourhood policing co-ordinator.
“We all come to work every day trying to actually achieve something good for the community. It’s probably one of the most rewarding roles that I’ve had in Victoria Police, and it’s been because of the team and the community that I’m lucky to be a part of,” she said.
In the King’s Birthday Honours citation for her medal, it said that Inspector Prentice-Evans “goes above and beyond the requirements of her role to assist her staff and ensure their wellbeing is as strong as it can be,” with an example being her work to support and grow the annual Walk to Talk event, which aims to reduce the cultural stigma around speaking about mental health and encouraging getting help when needed.
