The Queensland Police Service inducted a record-breaking 56 new frontline officers into the Townsville Police Academy today, the highest graduating number of officers at the Academy in 13 years.
The graduating cohort are the first to be welcomed into the Service from the Townsville Academy for 2024, with more than 2,000 applicants currently in the recruiting pipeline.
This is on top of the over 600 recruits currently training at the Police Academies.
Being the largest intake in 13 years truly exemplifies the Service's commitment to strengthening the frontline and keeping our Queensland communities safe.
The graduating cohort brings an array of professional backgrounds and transferable skills including engineering, Defence, as well as mechanics and other skilled tradespeople to the Service.
First Year Constable (FYC) Benjamin Maher worked in a laboratory after studying a bachelor's degree in Animal and Veterinary Bioscience, when he decided he was missing a sense of positive community interaction.
Benjamin joined the Service after growing up in a policing family, with a future ambition to use his bachelor's degree for applying into a Scenes of Crime or Forensics speciality role.
FYC Dan Evans brings 25 years of agricultural industry experience to the Service, where he hopes to use these skills to one day transition into a Rural Stock Crime Squad speciality role. Dan is being stationed in Charters Towers, where he will live with his wife and two children.
FYC Melissa Wines joined the Police Academy at the age of 50, after always wanting to become a police officer, and will be the first member of her family to join the Service.
QPS recruits are paid a full-time salary and receive a cost-of-living allowance whilst undertaking their training and development at the Academy.
This is only possible because the government is making the biggest investment in policing in more than 30 years to deliver almost 3000 extra police personnel.
This is all part of the Community Safety Plan for Queensland, backed by $1.28 billion in additional investment from the government.
It builds on the successful measures that we have seen reduce offending in the first quarter of this year, with new investment and expanded initiatives.
The plan is focused on five key pillars, backed by evidence, including:
- Supporting victims
- Delivering for our frontline
- Detaining offenders to protect the community
- Intervening early
- Preventing crime before it occurs
A career within the Queensland Police Service is like no other. From protecting, responding, and investigating, to supporting, rescuing and learning – the sheer variety of roles make it both a challenging and rewarding career.
As a police officer, you can have one career that has endless possibilities. Now really is the best time to join.
Visit PoliceRecruit.qld.gov.au to kickstart your policing career and make a positive impact in your community.
