In the end it was women – and advocates for domestic violence victims – not juvenile criminals – who knocked Katarina Carroll off her perch.

The teen crime epidemic didn’t help, nor did the push from within her own ranks, or even the rapidly diminishing support within the government, despite the public utterances of police minister Mark Ryan and Premier Steven Miles.

But Carroll’s career end was signed off during the very public inquiry into domestic violence.

That inquiry showed a ‘failure of leadership’ had allowed sexism, racism and fear to take hold. It showed up a chaotic and broken disciplinary process, a culture amongst some police that made many of us shudder, and a lack of real commitment to helping vulnerable women escape domestic violence.

Carroll had even declined an invitation to attend that inquiry, later fronting to give evidence under the threat of a summons.

Her evidence was galling. She was surprised and disappointed at some of the revelations, buck-passed responsibility to others, admitted reforms were behind where she’d like to see them, and agreed that police were crying out for resources.

But she was the boss. Imagine Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci keeping his job in that situation – and it should have signalled the end of Carroll’s contract then, too.

Fair cop: Would Queensland’s Police Commissioner still have her job if she was male?

But Carroll was former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s signature female appointment: the first woman to hold the position as state police commissioner.

“This sends a strong message to young girls that you can do anything in this state,’’ Palaszczuk said. Indeed so exciting was such an historic appointment that when Palaszczuk announced her role, the first person Carroll called was her mother.

Imagine a premier announcing that, with the appointment of the next police commissioner, or another senior appointment.

But it tied Carroll to Palaszczuk, and made it almost impossible for the government, under her leadership, to do anything but support her publicly.

So at the end of the domestic violence inquiry, Carroll got away with saying the report’s finding were difficult to read, and the service had to do better.

“As I have said a number of times, a line in the sand has been drawn,’’ Carroll once said.

But that was the point. Saying is different from doing, and there was – repeatedly – too much of the former, and not enough of the latter – a problem mirrored by her patron Palaszczuk.

Another significant factor was at play here too, which sped up Carroll’s announced departure this week.

A talented working police officer, she has always been better at managing up, than down. In some roles, that was crucial. For example, Carroll really came to public attention through her stellar leadership of security at the G20.

And that relationship up the line also led to some ill-advised decisions – like posing for a photo shoot with the premier, chief justice, and governor to celebrate gender equity, but in a move that seemingly ignored Queensland’s anxiety around the separation of powers.

But the police commissioner was not nearly as good, or some say even committed, to dealing down the line with her employees, including a strongly unionised police service with a reputation for having a bigger say than it should.

Her historic appointment, and the union backlash, put the premier and the police minister in a difficult position.

Some MPs worried there would be a “female backlash’’ if there was any move against the commissioner. No doubt that was on Mark Ryan’s mind too.

And Miles, as premier and a staunch union supporter, also needs to be cognisant that there is not any perception that the unions are running his show.

In the end, it was the public who provided the ‘get out of jail free card’. Carroll had become the story. And that only ever ends one way.