John Henry (Ben) Cartwright

Ben joined the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in July 1984 at the age of 21 years. He spent the first 18 years of his career in ACT Policing working mainly in the Criminal Investigations areas responsible for investigating serious crime including murder; robbery, assaults, child abuse, sexual, fraud and drug offences.

In 2000, Ben was promoted to Detective Sergeant and moved to the National arena of the AFP working in Brisbane Operations and Professional Standards.

In 2004, he was promoted to the rank of Detective Superintendent and worked in the Aviation portfolio establishing the Police Liaison Officer Network, the Joint Aviation Investigation Teams and the Air Security Officer Program.    

In 2008 Ben was the Senior Investigating Officer on Operation Mane, the investigation into an Australian citizen kidnapped in Somalia.

In 2009, after the successful resolution of Op Mane, he transferred to Learning and Development where he spent the next 4 years in the role of Superintendent Recruit Training and Detective Training. 

In 2012, Ben moved off shore to Afghanistan and took up a training position leading a team to educate and professionalise the Afghan National Police. He worked in the war region has a Graduate Certificate in Police Management. 

In 2013, Ben returned to the ACT and ACT Policing where he held the positions of Superintendent – Traffic Operations, Superintendent – Criminal Investigations and Deputy Chief Police Officer of the ACT.

In September 2017, Ben retired after 33 years with the AFP and is proud to join FIS and continue his passion in the training sphere.

Ben holds a Graduate Certificate in Police Management from Charles Sturt University and a Graduate Certificate in Applied Management from the Australian Institute of Police Management. 

He received a Commissioners Commendation for his work on Operation Aquatic, a murder investigation resulting in the arrest and conviction of 4 people, one of them a serving police officer. 

In 2017, he received a National Mangers Certificate for his work as the Police Forward Commander during the Rio Olympics and an AFP Foundation Honours Award for his work in Afghanistan.