Last week marked an exciting occasion for the 22 South Australia police graduates of Course 44, including a Mount Gambier woman. The graduates were sworn in during a special ceremony at the Police Academy in Adelaide.
Aged between 20 and 40 years, the graduates come from a wide range of interesting backgrounds, including serving in the Australian Defence Force and working in protection services. In addition, several hold tertiary qualifications in diverse areas including criminology, marketing, applied science and commerce.
One of the graduates was Brooke, who moved from Mount Gambier to undertake training at the academy. Brooke previously worked on the maternity/paediatric ward at the Mount Gambier Hospital and is motivated by the diversity that a police officer role brings. Brooke said she looked forward to putting all of her training into practice, especially helping vulnerable children.
“While the training course had its challenges it was the best thing I have done,” she said. Brooke will be posted at Port Pirie and is excited to work in a small country community. Another graduate was Lisa, who worked as an administration assistant at a civil construction company where she gained a Certificate 3 in Business Administration. Lisa has also worked as a personal trainer gaining Certificate 3 and 4 in Fitness from the Australian Institute of Fitness.
Lisa chose to join SA Police for a number of reasons, but one close to her heart was following in the footsteps of her now retired father who once was part of the SA Police Water Operations Unit. “I chose a career in the police because I wanted a career that would challenge me every day and would be diverse with so many areas to be able to specialise in,” said Lisa.
Lisa held the role of course captain during part of the training course. She found the course challenging at times, but said it made her stronger and she was proud of what she had achieved. Lisa is looking forward to her posting at Port Augusta and relishing in the experiences a country posting offers. Lisa hopes to one day work in the Child and Family Investigations section or the State Tactical Response Group.
SA Police is always recruiting and offers more than 40 career options, including working as a police officer or community constable. In addition, SA Police is currently recruiting for 114 Protective Security Officers (PSO) to help with COVID-19 duties including in medi-hotels, on border checkpoints and undertaking COVID-19 compliance checking.
If you are after a career change, you can become a PSO after just nine weeks of paid training. Visit www.police.sa.gov.au for more information about joining SA Police.
