Today marks a special day for police graduates of Course 49 who graduated today at the South Australia Police Academy.
Course 49 graduates are 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 graduates were sworn in this afternoon at 1.00pm.
The 23 members of Course 49, aged between 20 and 42 years, will be deployed to deliver frontline police services in both metropolitan and country locations. This includes eight recruits who will be posted to Murray Mallee, Whyalla, Port Lincoln, Kadina, Port Augusta and Port Pirie.
One of the graduates is Courtney who previous to joining SAPOL, worked at McDonalds for seven years where she rose up the ranks and worked in management. Courtney has also been volunteering with the SA Ambulance Service for the last 12 months.
Courtney chose a police career as she wanted diversity and loves a team environment and meeting people from all different walks of life.
Reflecting on the training process, Courtney said that it was a unique experience.
"It is one of the hardest yet most rewarding things I have done in my life so far. It pushes you beyond your comfort zone and allows you to develop plenty of new skills", Courtney said.
Courtney is being posted to Port Augusta where she is excited about the challenges and rewards of policing in a country area. Courtney is looking forward to getting experience in general patrols before hoping to specialise in an area such as the Crime Scene Investigation Section.
Another graduate of Course 49 is Max, who worked in hospitality for eight years prior to joining SAPOL. Max also studied at university for four years graduating with a Bachelor's degree in both Psychological Science and Criminology.
Max chose to apply with SAPOL as he was wanted to be a part of making a positive difference in communities. Like Courtney, Max found the training experience at the Police Academy challenging and feels incredibly proud of his fellow course members given all of their hard work over the last nine months.
Speaking on the Academy experience, Max said "The last nine months has delivered an extremely unique and rewarding experience that you definitely won't find anywhere else."
Max is being posted to Golden Grove where he is looking forward to utilising and further developing on what he has learnt at the Police Academy to make an impact in the local community. Max hopes to one day become a Negotiator.
SAPOL are always recruiting and offer 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 assist with COVID-19 duties including in medi-hotels. If you are after a career change, you can become a PSO after just nine weeks of paid training.
Information seminars are also being held on 14 and 15 December 2021 at 6:30pm at the State Administration Centre where you can find out more about becoming a Police Officer.
For more information on the seminar or 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: Courtney and Max
