We are the 19 Culturally and Linguistically Diverse students, brand new to the Queensland Police Service academy, Queensland Police say.
At the start of our first day, we received a warm welcome morning tea from Deputy Commissioner Brett Pointing, Acting Assistant Commissioner Debbie Platz, Acting Superintendent Darren Carnes, Executive Director Paul Casey, Inspector Ian Thompson and Andrea Appleton representing Queensland Police Union of Employees.
We were also grateful to receive the support from the Police Ethnic Advisory Committee, represented by Kamaljit Kaur Athwal. Knowing that we are the first squad of the CALD program, we felt a great expectation placed upon us. However as a group we all relish meeting the challenge.
Following our meet and greet, we were taken on a tour of the Academy. This included an introduction of all the facilities available to us as recruits.
The highlight of our first day was not only meeting, but getting to know both personally and professionally all our facilitators (Senior Sergeant Shane Clews, Sergeant Rex Lee, Sergeant David Bragg, Sergeant Lisa Duncan, Sergeant Belinda Patrick, Ms Tarsha Edwards) and fellow classmates. To our delight, Senior Sergeant Clews gave us a good abdominal workout with his light hearted humour.
Day two commenced our more rigorous training. Sergeant Patrick put us through our paces with Gate 1 physical testing. This included push ups, steps ups, prone bridge, hang test, and the multi-stage fitness test. We supported one another through each challenge and went as hard as we could. The testing indicated our current level and where we needed to improve by the end of our program.
We were also tasked to design the shirt logo that will represent the CALD program, for both current and all future squads.
Day three continued with more exploration of the facilities available to us, mainly the library and study resources. Following that we met our Learning Support Officer (Amanda Richards) who is available to us should we need any support with our study methods. We ended our day with some more pain and gain (Police Skills Section) inflicted upon us by Sergeant Patrick.
Our excitement grows more each day and we look forward to what’s to come, so please continue to follow us on our journey!
