Ms Celeste Lawson Communication / School of Education and the Arts

After graduating from her Bachelor’s degree in journalism Celeste completed a cadetship at a regional newspaper.  She then joined the Queensland Police Service and served as a police officer for 14 years.  She specialised in crime prevention roles including Neighbourhood Watch, School Based Policing and Officer in Charge of District (and Regional) Crime Prevention Units.  She completed a Masters of Professional Communication in 2000 and began lecturing part time in journalism, public relations and professional communication, in addition to police work.  Celeste moved to Western Australia in 2005 and became a full time academic writing units for the Bachelor of Professional Communication at Central Queensland University.  In 2007 she joined the Western Australia Department of Consumer and Employment Protection as the Senior Media/Public Relations Officer for Labour Relations.  She then combined policing and communication, becoming the Executive Manager of Strategic Communications at the Office of Crime Prevention in the Western Australia Police, and then Editor at the Corruption and Crime Commission.  Celeste moved back to Rockhampton in June 2011 to take up a position as Lecturer in Professional Communication.

In 2013, Celeste will graduate with a PhD in community policing.

Member of the Public Relations Institute of Australia (since 2005)

Communication Skills for Business Professionals, Cambridge University Press. Due for publication 2014.

Lawson, C 2013 The evolution of community policing in Queensland to 2007, PhD Thesis, CQUniversity.

Lawson, C 2012, Police culture: good or bad. Invited keynote for the South Australian Police Association Conference, Adelaide, October 17.    

Lawson, C 2012, Police culture, Opinion article, Journal of the Police Association of South Australia, December.    

Lawson, C 2011, Social Networking in the Health Professions, invited presentation for first year Health Sciences students at request of Cynthia Cowling, Director of Education of the International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists, July 10.

Lawson, C 2011, Does police culture impede the anti-corruption ideal? Paper presented at the Australasian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference, Perth, November 16-18. Available at:http://www.apsac.com.au/2011conference/2011/2011papers.html

Lawson, C 2011, The ideal cop in 2011: still macho? A study of contemporary police culture. Paper presented at theAustralasian Women and Policing Conference, Hobart, August 21-24. Available at:http://www.acwap.com.au/conferences/conf2011papers.html

Lawson, C 2009, Real Police Culture: Communicating the crime prevention message in the Queensland Police Service. In T. Flew (Ed.) Communication, Creativity and Global Citizenship: Refereed Proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Communications Association Annual Conference, Brisbane, July 8-10. ISBN 987-1-74107-275-4. Available athttp://www.proceedings.anzca09.org

Lawson, C 2012 Police culture, Fitzgerald and crime prevention. Faculty of Arts, Business, Informatics and Education Research Seminar Series, July.

Lawson, C 2011, Police culture: changing the unacceptable, Scan journal of media arts culture, 8(1), October.

Lawson, C 2009 Views on the role of crime prevention by female police officers: Difficulties and challenges in a non-operational setting. Paper presented at the Australasian Women and Policing Conference, Perth, August 23-26.

Lawson, C and Taylor, V 2004 Volatile Substance Misuse in Rockhampton, presentation at Australian Winter School in the Sun conference, Alice Springs.