General News
21 December, 2025
Police leadership change for Western Division
VICTORIA Police has announced the appointment of Daniel Davison as the new superintendent for Western Region Division 4, which stretches from Ararat, Stawell and Horsham through to the border. He replaces the region’s first female Superintendent Sharon McCrory, who officially retired earlier this month.
Superintendent Davison paid tribute to his predecessor.
“I’ve known Sharon for a lot of years, so it made the transition really easy,” he said.
“She absolutely served her community with pride and was completely entrenched in making sure that her members were safe and that her community was happy and secure as well. I wish her all the best in retirement.”
Superintendent Davison brings extensive policing experience to the position, having served as an inspector for the past 10 years before his promotion.
His career includes time as local area commander in Swan Hill from 2015 to 2017, followed by a posting in Ballarat from 2017 to 2021.
He later served as a detective inspector in Bendigo until 2025, along with earlier work in the Northern Territory.
“It was a fantastic experience and I really gained a huge appreciation for rural and remote policing,” he said.
“That time was absolutely, I think, pivotal in leading me to this role.”
Superintendent Davison said his time with Victoria Police had been deeply rewarding and he was passionate about encouraging more people to consider policing as a career.
“It’s been an absolutely fantastic ride,” he said.
“One thing I’m hoping to push here is that we want to recruit more people into Victoria Police. It’s been an absolutely brilliant career for me, and the ability to come to a job where you don’t know what you’re going to walk into every day is brilliant. You work with some fantastic people in and outside of the job.”
Superintendent Davison said he was eager to build on the work already underway across the division looking at key areas to focus and improve on.
“I think there are some great initiatives already happening within our local police stations and across the entire division,” he said.
His immediate priority is to better understand the communities and personnel within the division.
“The first part for me is to get my head around the area and the people that work in here and all of the communities,” he said.
“They’ve all got their own issues and challenges, and I’m really keen to make sure that we’re providing the best service to every community,”
Road safety will also be a major focus for Superintendent Davison.
“We’ve had 15 people lose their lives, unfortunately, in 2025 on our roads, and we certainly don’t want to see that repeated next year. That’s 15 less dinner plates at the Christmas table. We really all take that really personally within policing.”
Superintendent Davison said community connection was central to effective policing. “When we know our communities, we can hold offenders to account because we’re a part of the justice system, and we’ll do our part.”