{{Short description|Australian police chief}} {{Other people}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Frederick Hanson | honorific_suffix= {{postnominals|country=AUS|size=100%|sep=,|CBE|QPM}} | office = Commissioner of the New South Wales Police | term_start = 15 November 1972 | term_end = 31 December 1976 | predecessor = Norman Allan | successor = Mervyn Wood | birth_date = {{Birth date|1914|05|26|df=y}} | birth_place = Orange, New South Wales | death_date = {{Death date and age|1980|10|26|1914|05|26|df=y}} | death_place = | spouse = | alma_mater = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Frederick John Hanson''', {{postnominals|country=AUS|size=100%|sep=,|CBE|QPM}} (26 May 1914 – 26 October 1980) was the Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force from 1972 to 1976.<ref name=adb>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id2=hanson-frederick-john-10420/text18469 | title=Hanson, Frederick John (1914–1980) | accessdate=1 November 2018}}</ref>

==Early life== Hanson was born in Orange, New South Wales, on 26 May 1914 and was educated at Christian Brothers College, Burwood. He worked as a manufacturing jeweller's assistant and a transit porter before joining the police force in 1936. He served in the Second World War with the Royal Australian Air Force from 1942 until 1946. He was rapidly promoted through the police ranks, becoming assistant commissioner in 1968 and deputy commissioner in early 1972. His nickname in the force was "Slippery".<ref name=adb /><ref name=slip>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122714081/?terms=%22fred%2Bhanson%22 | title='Slippery' tries for a little bit of stirring | work=Sydney Morning Herald | date=4 March 1978 | accessdate=1 November 2018}}</ref>

==Career== Hanson was promoted to commissioner on 15 November 1972, having been recommended for the role by his predecessor, Norman Allan, whose term had been tarnished by corruption allegations.<ref name=adb /><ref name=whit>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122726257/?terms=%22fred%2Bhanson%22 | title=How crime became, and remains, a Sydney growth industry | work=Sydney Morning Herald | date=7 November 1981 | accessdate=1 November 2018 | author=Whitton, Evan}}</ref> Upon taking office, Hanson reportedly sacked 28 corrupt officers and announced that he saw drugs as the biggest problem facing police.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/120085171/?terms=%22fred%2Bhanson%22 | title=The men who led | work=Sydney Morning Herald | date=5 March 1993 | accessdate=1 November 2018}}</ref> As commissioner, Hanson reorganised the force structure, changed the police uniform, introduced Australia's first crime intelligence unit, and allowed women police officers to transfer to general duties for the first time.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article125630156 |title=Former police chief dies |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=55 |issue=16,469 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=28 October 1980 |accessdate=1 November 2018 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/121427879/?terms=%22fred%2Bhanson%22 | title=Cop with the lot | work=Sydney Morning Herald | date=12 April 1987 | accessdate=1 November 2018}}</ref> He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in January 1974.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110754770 |title=11 new knights and a dame |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=48 |issue=13,633 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=2 January 1974 |accessdate=1 November 2018 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He was occasionally referred to as a "playboy" for his personal habits while commissioner, and critics derided his term as undistinguished.<ref name=whit /><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MPihGaHK8jwC&q=%22fred+hanson%22+commissioner&pg=PA19 | title=A Culture of Corruption: Changing an Australian Police Service | publisher=Hawkins Press | author=Dixon, David | year=1999 | pages=19| isbn=9781876067106 }}</ref>

As with his predecessor, issues of corruption and poor management continued throughout Hanson's term. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation settled a defamation action in 1976 after alleging the previous year that he held a financial interest in a gambling club; however, after his death in 1980 freed media to report without facing Australia's strict defamation laws, he faced repeated allegations of corruption, including having received money from illegal gambling interests and personal ties to various criminal figures.<ref name=whit /> He retired early in 1976.<ref name=adb /> Hanson sought successfully to have Mervyn Wood appointed as his successor; Wood, like Hanson and Allan, was dogged by corruption allegations and later unsuccessfully prosecuted.<ref name=slip /><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-fine-start-a-controversial-end-20060823-gdo8cp.html | title=A fine start, a controversial end | work=Sydney Morning Herald | date=23 August 2006 | accessdate=1 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123454751/?terms=%22fred%2Bhanson%22 | title=Sweet smile of success for police chief | work=Sydney Morning Herald | date=10 February 1976 | accessdate=1 November 2018}}</ref>

Hanson made an abortive campaign as an independent candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Gosford at the 1978 election, but withdrew before election day.<ref name=slip /><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/121207973/?terms=%22fred%2Bhanson%22 | title=Police Commissioner whose widow left $1m | work=Sydney Morning Herald | date=20 December 1986 | accessdate=1 November 2018}}</ref> Bob Bottom would later allege that his campaign had been motivated by anger at the decision of Premier Neville Wran to order the closure of illegal casinos.<ref>{{cite news | title='Time to leave ... he's calling the cavalry' | work=The Age | date=25 August 1984}}</ref>

Hanson died in his car in his garage in October 1980. The engine was not running when the body was found. It was initially reported as a heart attack, but later understood to be from carbon monoxide poisoning. The coroner decided not to hold an inquest.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123857828/?terms=%22fred%2Bhanson%22 | title=Death of police chief a riddle | work=Sydney Morning Herald | date=23 November 1980 | accessdate=1 November 2018}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-civ|pol}} {{s-bef|before=Norman Allan}} {{s-ttl|title=Commissioner of the New South Wales Police|years=1972–1976}} {{s-aft|after=Mervyn Wood}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanson, Frederick}} Category:1914 births Category:1980 deaths Category:Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Category:Commissioners of the New South Wales Police Category:Recipients of the Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air Category:Australian recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Category:Royal Australian Air Force officers Category:People from Orange, New South Wales