Alleged ‘police stalker’ Caitlin Schiavone a family violence expert

Accused ‘Facebook stalker’ Caitlin Schiavone graduated with a masters degree in family violence before landing her ‘dream job’ at Victoria Police.

Caitlin Schiavone received a masters degree in domestic and family violence from Central Queensland University.

A Victoria Police adviser and lawyer facing stalking charges over alleged Facebook hacking that sent a man to jail for 18 days has worked as a victims of crime support officer and graduated with a masters degree in domestic and family violence just two years ago.

Caitlin Schiavone – committed to stand trial in the County Court on 14 charges including stalking, impersonating a police officer, perverting the course of justice and perjury – stated on ­social media that she was one of “Australia’s first graduates” of the masters degree from Central Queensland University.

“They say #1 is enough, #2 is company, #3 is a crowd, #4 who knows? But #5, you’ve got to be kidding me! Today was finally the ceremony for my #5th degree. Master of Domestic and Family Violence Practice at Central Queensland University,” she wrote on LinkedIn.

Ms Schiavone started working for Victoria Police as a policy adviser in early 2023, and in a social media post described the role as a dream job. “I am incredibly honoured and proud to share that I recently started a new role, in an area that I had always dreamt about working in since I was 10 years old,” she wrote on LinkedIn.

“So from humble beginnings as this baby-faced student who took a week to figure out what ‘pro bono’ meant to now, a still baby-faced adult who is still curious, still learning and still studying. All this hard work has meant that it is with great privilege that I am now a senior policy adviser at Victoria Police.”

Ms Schiavone has been committed to stand trial in the County Court in December after a three-day hearing in the Magistrates Court last week. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

According to the charge sheets, Ms Schiavone is alleged to have perverted the course of justice in Docklands on April 17 last year by “fabricating evidence against (redacted) by sending a Facebook Messenger message to herself, purporting to be (redacted) and then reporting this contact to Victoria Police, causing (redacted) to be arrested and remanded in custody”.

Police allege that between March 14 and May 5, 2023, Ms Schiavone “did stalk another person namely (redacted) by engaging in a course of conduct which included accessing his (redacted) database account, accessing his social media and sending mess­ages to herself, accessing his personal email account and accessing his personal documents, namely charge sheets, and sending them to third parties, and falsely reporting (redacted) to police, causing (redacted) to be remanded in custody, arousing apprehension or fear in (redacted) for his safety”.

The Magistrates Court heard the man was behind bars for 18 days.

Ms Schiavone also stated on LinkedIn that she had represented Australia at the UN Commission on the Status of Women and “worked alongside industry leaders in the elimination of gendered violence”.

Caitlin Schiavone outside the Melbourne Magistrates Court. Picture: Mohammad Alfares

The 31-year-old’s professional profile says she worked at the Victims of Crime Commissioner’s Office between 2020 and 2023.

“The current Victims of Crime Commissioner is Fiona McCormack and I represented her office,” her profile states, where she specialised in “high-level research on addressing domestic and family violence levels in response to the pandemic”.

“I facilitated meetings with key government figures and policy experts to influence change in Australia and abroad,” she wrote. “I further engaged with and consulted with media outlets on best practice in domestic and family violence practice.”

Between 2017 and 2020, Ms Schiavone’s profile states, she was a victim of crime support officer. “I was also responsible for providing training to Victoria Police on victim support and management at the Victorian Police Academy. This involved undertaking complex eligibility … assessments and associated administrative tasks by entering information into a central database and completing detailed case notes,” her profile states.

“Victim support was facilitated in the form of providing information on victims support ser­vices, entitlements and referrals to victims of crime by telephone, text message and email correspondence.

“That required providing an empathetic and responsive service through the use of sensitive and controlled language to mitigate re-traumatisation when obtaining information from clients.”