Australian Federal Police (AFP)Commander Geoff Turner has been appointed as Tonga’s next Police Commissioner, set to be sworn in on 12 May 2025.
Turner will succeed Commissioner Shane McLennan, whose three-year term concludes with a formal farewell parade on 9 May.
The appointment was endorsed by King Tupou VI following a selection process conducted by the Judicial Appointments and Discipline Panel of the Privy Council.
Born in New Zealand, Turner began his law enforcement career with the Royal New Zealand Navy before migrating to Australia in 1990. He joined the Australian Federal Police (AFP), where his early work focused on general duties in Canberra and drug and organised crime investigations in Sydney.
His extensive international experience includes deployments with the United Nations in Cyprus, East Timor (now Timor-Leste), and Afghanistan. In 2010, he served as a Detective Inspector in Afghanistan as part of AFP’s Operation Illuminate. Turner has also held senior roles in intelligence and specialist operations within the AFP, including a secondment as Acting Assistant Commissioner of Crime at the New South Wales Crime Commission.
Turner’s academic credentials include degrees in Business (Marketing and Public Relations) and Policing (Investigations), along with master’s degrees in Business and Management, and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Finance.
His appointment continues Tonga’s practice of engaging experienced international officers to lead its police force, a tradition aimed at bolstering reform and capacity-building efforts.
