That's the message Caroline O'Hare is bringing to every police officer in NSW in the fight against terrorism.

The police officer of 35 years, who has spent half her career in counter-terrorism, has spearheaded a new, mandatory training program equipping frontline officers to look for signs of radicalisation while attending routine jobs.

It may be spotting something unusual when arresting a drug dealer. It may be asking extra questions at a domestic violence call. By July, all 16,000 police officers will have received the I-Rad training as the threat of terrorism continues to grow.

"We're teaching them to really be aware of what is going on, to look for the extraordinary in the ordinary, because they're the eyes and ears, they're in the community every day," said Detective Chief Inspector O'Hare.

Ms O'Hare, a Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command leader, is one of 23 police officers, unsworn employees and police volunteers nominated for the Police Officer of the Year awards, to be held in Sydney on Friday night.

Nominees have been recognised for work in field operations, specialist operations, non-sworn employee roles, community policing or customer service.

The diverse list includes Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Sharpe, leader of a drug target action group, who has arrested more offenders in Tamworth than any other officer and MEOCS Detective Senior Constable Gabriel Reyes, who unravelled a complex web of laundered drug proceeds totalling $2 million.

Zeke Shaw, an Aboriginal liaison officer, has been nominated for fighting the scourge of ice in his Wellington region.

The Mid North Coast's Senior Constable Martin Gampe has been nominated for his compassion for victims' families. On Christmas Eve, he visited a family mourning the loss of their two-year-old girl to give them a collage of photos.

Ms O'Hare, nominated by her boss Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch, has been praised for her leadership and behind-the-scenes work in formulating counter-terrorism strategies, training, policy advice and researching emerging trends as commander of the strategy unit.

"The challenge is predicting what the next tactic is going to be, what the next strategy is going to be," she said. "We're doing everything we possibly can and trying to think outside the square."

Ms O'Hare joined the force at 19 years old in 1981, when women wore straight skirts with matching handbags and comprised 3 per cent.

She has worked as a police prosecutor and a negotiator, has co-ordinated the protection of dignitaries during the Sydney Olympics and has led the reopening of the investigation into the Hakoah Club and Israeli consulate bombings.

"I was very young and very naive [when I first joined] and my eyes just opened up completely," she said.

"I realised that ... everybody is human, everybody has a bad day now and then. I learnt to treat people with respect, whether they're a victim or a perpetrator, because everybody deserves respect. You see humanity at its best and its worst and you've just got to have a lot of compassion."

TOP JOBS Caroline O'Hare's career

Ivan Milat "He was arrested by negotiation and I was the team leader. It was absolutely enormous and quite frightening because I was worried that maybe he wouldn't come out. We had him on the phone but we didn't know what he'd do."

Cangai siege "We did the negotiations in Sydney because we didn't have the time to get up there. It was a really challenging job because there were children involved."

Sydney Olympics "I had 250 police officers, 71 international protected people, a budget of a million and a half dollars just for overtime. Plus, I was six months pregnant. It was a huge job."

September 11 "I had my daughter a couple of months after the Olympics and then 9/11 happened while I was on maternity leave. My boss rang me and said, "please come back to work!"