There was no warning. Just a bang from the bathroom.
A mother of two, a respected and talented federal police officer with more than 30 years experience, had taken her own life inside the Australian Federal Police's Melbourne office.
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AFP officer dead after shooting at Melbourne HQ
Federal police officer has died in hospital after being shot at the Melbourne AFP headquarters on Monday afternoon. Courtesy Seven News Melbourne.
The suicide has exposed deep concerns about the lack of support offered to AFP officers. At the time of her death, the officer had no direct access to support services in Melbourne.
It can be revealed the AFP scrapped a national welfare officer program several years ago, replacing it with an outsourced counselling hotline and a support unit based at the force's Canberra headquarters.
![The female officer's suicide has exposed deep concerns about the lack of support offered to AFP officers.](/web/20170212054808im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/6/e/q/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guaczo.png/1486709856279.jpg)
The AFP approach to mental health support is in stark contrast with that adopted by state police forces and other emergency services, a former AFP welfare officer and colleague of the officer said.
Ross Fusca, a whistleblower who left the AFP in 2010 after about 30 years in law enforcement, worked with the officer on financial investigations, including the Australian Wheat Board bribery probe.
He said that in three decades in law enforcement, she was the only officer he graded as having performed outstandingly during an annual review.
"She was a totally dedicated AFP officer ... a really good financial investigator, really good on numbers'" Mr Fusca said.
![The scene at The AFP building in Latrobe Street on Monday.](/web/20170212054808im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/6/s/g/s/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guaczo.png/1486709856279.jpg)
"Those who were still working with her said there was absolutely no indication that this was a possibility."
Mr Fusca said that instead of prioritising a peer-to-peer support network, such as those regularly acknowledged as best practice by mental health experts for emergency services workers, the AFP backed an off-site and unproven method for officers.
The Australian Federal Police Association called for welfare officers to be reinstated at every AFP office, saying that its members were exposed every day to incidents and material which had the potential to cause deep mental trauma.
"The troops are telling me they want peer support," AFPA president Angela Smith said.
"They want welfare officers."
Federal officers regularly investigate the most horrific child abuse cases, and have to view graphic extremism content, Ms Smith said.
It is not believed this was a contributing factor in Monday's death.
They are also often active in foreign conflicts and peacekeeping missions, including those in the Middle East and Pacific Islands and in major disasters, such as the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, or the Christmas Island boat disaster in 2010.
One AFP officer who was involved in the latter operation also died recently, but it remains unclear whether he took his own life.
Colleagues believe his death was the first of two suicides relating to AFP officers based in Melbourne in four months, although a family member told The Age the officer died from a medical condition.
A former AFP officer who served in Afghanistan said he was debriefed upon his return to Australia, and was flagged as requiring further assistance for his mental health, but never received it.
Ms Smith said suicide was a rare occurrence within the AFP, and she intended to make discussion of welfare officers a focus of current enterprise agreement negotiations.
Mr Fusca questioned why broader safeguards had not been put in place after all AFP officers were ordered to wear their firearms during their shifts when the terror alert was raised to high in 2015.
He said some officers had gone from never wearing a firearm apart from when executing warrants to having to wear one daily to merely sit at their desks.
On Tuesday, AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin visited the Melbourne office with other senior officers, but some police were disillusioned about the lack of support offered after the death, Mr Fusca said.
"There was a general muster and they were all handed out business cards with the welfare number on it and that was it," he said.
Mr Colvin said in a statement on Tuesday that the death was being investigated by Victoria Police who would prepare a report for the coroner.
"My thoughts are with her loved ones and the broader AFP family who are dealing with the loss of one of our own today.
"We are offering support to her family and the wider AFP workforce."
The AFP would not comment on Friday about why the welfare officer program was withdrawn, but backed existing methods regarding mental health support for their members.
In a statement, an AFP spokesman also denied there had been inadequate support offered to colleagues of the woman in Melbourne.
"The AFP has a range of systems and protocols in place that recognise the seriousness of mental illness, and to provide necessary support to affected members."
If you are troubled by this report, experiencing a personal crisis or thinking about suicide, you can call Lifeline 131 114 or beyondblue 1300 224 636 or visit lifeline.org.au or beyondblue.org.au.