"I would think that we're in for a very busy summer," Supt. Chapman said.

"Sydney has been in lockdown for a long period of time, travel between regional NSW and greater Sydney has not been allowed for such a long period of time.

"One can only imagine that it will increase the pressure and strain on our roads and a lot more people traveling over the next few months, which will of course be in the Christmas period where it's traditionally busy anyway."

If a list was made of people deserving of a holiday after 2020 and 2021, Supt. Chapman would certainly be near the top of the list.

Supt. Chapman took over the command of the Hunter Valley Police District in March 2020, when the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was first starting to become clear.

"It was certainly one of those things where you feel like you're thrown in the deep end," Supt Chapman said of her start in the role.

"Because as soon as you come into what you think to be a commander's role in the district, and I'd previously done a little bit of time as the commander at Port Stephens/Hunter, we had the issue with the pandemic and of course that changed a lot of our way of business.

"There was a lot of drawback from being able to get out and physically see and speak with people."

Supt Chapman said the police needed to quickly adapt to new ways of getting information to the community through social media and other means.

"But also in terms of the priorities for us as a policing command," Supt Chapman said.

"In heightened periods where we had extensive lockdowns or restrictions, that expectation of police compliance obviously played a big part in our activities and keeping the community safe."

Service to the community has been a central theme of Supt Chapman's career, which began when she joined the police force in 1994 and then attested as a probationary constable in January, 1995.

"I think it was probably something that I generally aspired to as a teenager," Supt Chapman said when asked what inspired her to join the NSW Police.

"I feel like I've generally had a general desire to do something community minded and I think policing appealed to me as a young person, who was very active in terms of sport, it appealed to me because you didn't always have to sit behind a desk to do the job."

Supt Chapman began her career at Hornsby Patrol, which later became Ku-Ring-Gai Local Area Command, before moving into Sydney for specialist commands prior to coming back north to the Hunter region in 2010.

Initially Supt Chapman worked at the NSW Police Northern Region office in Newcastle, working as the HR manager and as the staff officer to the Region Commander over the course of nine years.

Supt Chapman said she had welcomed the opportunity to move back to the Hunter Valley as it had allowed her to be closer to family and friends in her hometown of Cessnock and since taking on the role she said she was particularly proud of the district's emergency response.

"In the midst of all the more recent COVID things we had the search for AJ out at Putty, and that was a fantastic outcome for this district, NSW Police, the family and the community and everyone involved," Supt Chapman said.

Supt Chapman said the search for AJ had been one of the biggest responsibilities of her entire career.

"I'd certainly never experienced anything like that in terms of the enormity and size of the job, and with that comes that media element," Supt Chapman said.

"It was certainly one of the biggest challenges that I've had so far in my career from a personal perspective, and I think at the time, you're just very focused on what needs to happen.

"It's afterwards that you have that sigh of relief and realise how much you held in."

Another career highlight for Supt Chapman was being involved with the committees organising celebrations for the 90 and 100 year anniversaries of women in policing in NSW.

Supt Chapman credited trailblazers such as former police officer Irene Jeurgens with paving the way for more women to join the police force and said the organisation had become more accepting of women during her career.

"I think there's probably no question that in some of those earlier days, whilst you could, there was certainly not a guarantee that you might get a position (as a woman)," Supt Chapman said.

"I personally would say, in my time in policing, I don't feel that I've ever experienced discrimination on the basis of, I'm a female so I can't have that job, so I've been very fortunate.

"There's definitely just that broader representation of women at the table now at whatever levels that I think is really refreshing."

After participating on the 90 and 100 years of women in policing committees, Supt Chapman said she didn't have ambitions to join the next anniversary committee.

"I don't know that we'll necessarily do something every 10 years, the next big one might be 125 years and I might not be around but you never know," Supt Chapman said.

Supt Chapman said her current focus was on providing stability in leadership for the Hunter Valley Police District.

"I certainly think that Hunter Valley Police District has really had a turnover of commanders for the last 10 or so years and so realistically, I would like to be here for at least another few years to really give the police here some consistency and leadership," she said.

"I definitely want to see where we head in the next couple of years as a relatively new police command. We've got a new police station at Cessnock and we're getting a new station at Singleton and so really, I would like to just consolidate where we are as a district."