AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett warned of “a new and disturbing front” in traditional, gender-based violence.

Barrett is the first woman to lead the federal police since it began, almost 50 years ago, and she’s the ninth commissioner in the force’s history. 

In her first major speech since taking on the role, she spoke about online “crimefluencers” who “hunt, stalk and draw in” vulnerable young girls. 

“Overwhelmingly, the perpetrators are young boys and young men from Western English speaking backgrounds, and overwhelmingly, young girls are the victims, and they are being intimidated, exploited and controlled,” she said. 

She described a “twisted type of gamification” where perpetrators attain status for more extreme acts of depravity. 

Barrett also spoke to the room as a “busy parent” who at times, like millions of other Australians, struggled “to navigate the two worlds our kids live in – the physical and the virtual”.

“If it used to take a village to raise a child, because of advances in technology, it now takes a country to keep them safe.”

“It’s no wonder many parents and others are exhausted and drained by the online world,” she said. “If it used to take a village to raise a child, because of advances in technology, it now takes a country to keep them safe”.

She announced the AFP’s creation of Taskforce Pompilid to crack down on these criminal online networks, including through the use of a new AI-tool that interprets Gen Z and Alpha slang. 

“I want to find solutions that help our youth become resistant to radicalisation and the effects of violent extremist material,” she said. “And I want us to do that together as a whole of society effort”. 

Over a quarter of a century, Barrett has risen through the ranks of the federal police. 

Earlier this month, she spoke to 60 Minutes about her early career, as a 21-year-old intern with the federal police who had a “warts and all” insight into the force. 

“My first job was actually making sure that the stationery cupboard was full,” she recalled. 

Since then, she has worked across the AFP in areas such as financial crime, counter-terrorism, espionage and organised crime. 

In 2020, Barrett was part of FW’s second Platinum+ Emerging Leaders cohort. At the time, Barrett was the AFP’s Commander Operations for Southern Command. 

Platinum+ is a 12-month program for emerging female leaders. It helps mid-career women take the next step in their professional development. Barrett is just one of the program’s many success stories. 

The now AFP Commissioner said she “absolutely loved” the program. 

 “What I’m really looking forward to is passing some of these tools onto the women I work with to help them with their communication and authority. What an achievement that you’ve been able to build a feeling of genuine support and warmth amongst a virtual cohort – I felt extremely safe.”

Image credit: AAP