Today marks a special day for police graduates of Course 50 who graduated this afternoon at the South Australia Police Academy.
Course 50 graduates are the last graduating group as part of Project 72. Project 72 increases SAPOL's capability to achieve our vision of Safer Communities, which includes SAPOL's commitment to the COVID-19 response and other police duties.
The 22 members of Course 50, aged between 21 and 40 years, will be deployed to deliver frontline police services in both metropolitan and country locations. This includes nine recruits who will be posted to Port Lincoln, Port Augusta, Berri, Port Pirie and Victor Harbor.
One of the graduates is Rhiley, who grew up in the Far North Local Service Area before moving to Adelaide approximately seven years ago. Rhiley has always had an interest in policing and is glad that she took the step to applying with SAPOL.
Prior to joining SAPOL, Rhiley undertook tertiary studies gaining a Bachelor of Psychological Science and worked in different fields including hospitality and aged care where she enjoyed working with the community.
The opportunities for growth and different pathways within the organisation, knowing that every day is different was a motivating factor behind Rhiley choosing to apply with SAPOL. She found the 9 month training at the Police Academy challenging but rewarding and she built strong friendships along the way.
Rhiley will be posted to the metropolitan area and eventually hopes to complete SAPOL's Negotiator course.
Another graduate is Chris who worked in hospitality for six years before completing a four year apprenticeship as an electrician.
Chris was then inspired to apply to SAPOL because of his motivation to make a difference in communities and to have opportunities to grow.
Like Rhiley, Chris found the training challenging and was pushed out of his comfort zone, achieving things he didn't think he would be able to do.
Chris will be posted to Berri and has aspirations to eventually join the Dog Operations Unit.
SAPOL are always recruiting and offer more than 40 career options, including working as a Police Officer Protective Security Officer or Community Constable.
For any information about a Police Officer or PSO role, please visit https://www.police.sa.gov.au/join-us
Today's graduation took place in accordance with the COVID-19 Directions Activities.
Image above: Chris and Rhiley
