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Speaker 1: Now, there is always so much up for discussion in here,

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Speaker 1: and we know the Northern Territory Police Force well, they

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Speaker 1: have been stretched over recent years. The latest member survey

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Speaker 1: had said that we do need well more police and

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Speaker 1: that is something that we've spoken about again, I'll say

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Speaker 1: so much over the last few years, and there is

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Speaker 1: a lot of work in this space. And joining me

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Speaker 1: in the studio to talk more about recruitment, well, we've

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Speaker 1: got Acting Superintendent Surge Boehmer, Good morning to you. Oh

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Speaker 1: hang on, have I put you the wrong microphone on?

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Speaker 1: Whenever there's more people in the studio, I always turned

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Speaker 1: the wrong ones on. And we've also got Superintendent Christopher

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Speaker 1: Board good morning to you. Good morning, lovely to have

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Speaker 1: you both in the studio. Now, first off, talk me

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Speaker 1: through how many recruits are in the latest intake.

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Speaker 2: Well, well, Katie, I can answer that one. At the moment,

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Speaker 2: we've just had a squad commence this week last week, sorry,

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Speaker 2: and we've got thirty recruits started on one squad one,

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Speaker 2: five nine. But what we do have at the college

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Speaker 2: at the moment, we've got three recruit constable squads in

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Speaker 2: at the moment, we've got twenty seven. We're Squad one

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Speaker 2: five to seven who will graduate early in March. Squad

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Speaker 2: one five eight, We've got another thirty, So in total

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Speaker 2: we've got eighty seven recruit constables which will graduate over

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Speaker 2: the next seven months.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, And how is that like? How is that

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Speaker 1: sort of keeping in line with our numbers and how

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Speaker 1: many people we are needing to join the force.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, in regards to our recruitment and retention, we're keeping up.

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Speaker 2: The college is working at capacity at the moment, but

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Speaker 2: we're also ensuring that the quality of constables that are

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Speaker 2: coming out are ready to hit the beat.

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Speaker 1: Now, what kind of training are they needing to get into?

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Speaker 1: What kind of you know what? I know, I've been

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Speaker 1: sent out there before to do the beep test and

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Speaker 1: all sorts of things to try and get a bit

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Speaker 1: of a taste of what the recruits need to do.

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Speaker 1: Just how hard is the training?

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Speaker 3: I think the fitness is just one small component of

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Speaker 3: what we're looking for in the ideal applicant. YEP. We're

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Speaker 3: looking for certain character and and I guess personalities that

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Speaker 3: are well suited to policing. Obviously, as recruiters, we're looking

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Speaker 3: for people that have the potential to become police officers.

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Speaker 3: We do look for also experienced police officers, but certainly

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Speaker 3: for people who are looking to start their career. We're

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Speaker 3: looking for those markets that we know generally, I guess,

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Speaker 3: the sorts of things that are more likely than not

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Speaker 3: to make people successful in a policing endeavor.

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Speaker 1: Are you still recruiting people from overseas.

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Speaker 3: Yep, we certainly are. In fact, Chris mentioned the amount

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Speaker 3: of people that we currently have at the college. I

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Speaker 3: don't think you went into the auxiliaries that started yesterday.

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Speaker 3: So we had another twenty auxiliaries yesterday who provide that

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Speaker 3: really vital support function to our crews on the road.

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Speaker 3: So that's exciting for them and exciting for us to

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Speaker 3: have them on board. And then in I think for

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Speaker 3: three weeks time, we have a accelerated recruitment program and

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Speaker 3: that's where we start looking for people who have that

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Speaker 3: prior policing experience. And we do go to other jurisdictions

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Speaker 3: for that, obviously Australian jurisdictions, but also in New Zealand,

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Speaker 3: so we do focus a bit on New Zealand as well.

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Speaker 3: We find we get a lot of interest from New Zealand.

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Speaker 3: I think we offer a bit of an adventure, and

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Speaker 3: we offer some good incentives for people to come over

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Speaker 3: here in terms of salary, housing and the superannuation we

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Speaker 3: provide over time, which obviously we try and limit, but

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Speaker 3: opportunities I think are pretty good for us up here well.

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Speaker 1: And it is an adventure. One of the things I've

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Speaker 1: sort of noticed and correct me if I'm wrong, but

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Speaker 1: over the last six months or so, I've had a

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Speaker 1: few friends like say that their children are joining the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police Force. So what I really like as

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Speaker 1: well is that you've got these young Territorians who are going,

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Speaker 1: do you know what? I want to be a police

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Speaker 1: officer in the NT.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And what's also assisting with that eighty is we have

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Speaker 2: the JPR programs and we've also got the Police PIFIS

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Speaker 2: Cadet program as well happening. So at the moment, we

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Speaker 2: have fifty eight jprs in our program. That's a three

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Speaker 2: year program where each year a new squad will start,

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Speaker 2: so there's always a three to four squad revolving there.

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Speaker 2: At the moment, we've got two cadet programs in totaling

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Speaker 2: forty one. So we had twenty five this year, which

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Speaker 2: was a high number that we haven't reached before, and

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Speaker 2: we work with Department of Education and CDU in regards

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Speaker 2: to that, where the cadets at the end of the

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Speaker 2: eighteen month program receive a Certificate two in Community Engagement

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Speaker 2: and also a Certificate three in business at the end

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Speaker 2: of that which helps them progress on to you know,

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Speaker 2: some move on to police, some move on to fire

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Speaker 2: and emergency services other governments.

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Speaker 1: I reckon it's a really good idea. I've got a well,

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Speaker 1: my goddaughter is involved in the in the Junior Police Rangers,

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Speaker 1: and I think it's a great idea to have young

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Speaker 1: Territorians again, you know, involved in this way because it

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Speaker 1: might actually mean that it sparks them to warn a

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Speaker 1: career as a police Like how old are those Junior

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Speaker 1: Police Rangers and cadets. Generally they're pretty young, aren't they.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So the cadets are normally when they're in year eleven.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So that's worked in consultation with Department of Education in

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Speaker 2: the school and the JPR program is usually around third eighth.

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Speaker 1: I reckon it's good.

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Speaker 2: So if anyone wants further information on that, THENT Police

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Speaker 2: website and click on Youth Programs to be able to

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Speaker 2: get further information. We recruit every year.

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Speaker 3: Yep, and I think following on from that as well,

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Speaker 3: in our recruitment role, we tend to make sure that

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Speaker 3: we reach out to the cadets and ex cadets that

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Speaker 3: have completed the program to see where they're going with

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Speaker 3: their career and what they want to do. I joined

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Speaker 3: the Army when I was eighteen years old, and one

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Speaker 3: of the biggest culture shocks for me was actually moving

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Speaker 3: away from home, my home community, my friend friendship, networks,

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Speaker 3: and those sorts of things, you know. So we are

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Speaker 3: obviously targeting people for entry level jobs and young people

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Speaker 3: for entry level jobs. So we've got our recruitment team

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Speaker 3: currently going down the track. They've been in Catherine Tenant

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Speaker 3: Creek over the weekend and then now in our Springs

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Speaker 3: and they're interviewing applicants, but they're also trying to engage

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Speaker 3: with people in that school age sort of cohorta to

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Speaker 3: see if they're interested in doing something like an auxiliary

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Speaker 3: role with us. They can look at it like a

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Speaker 3: gap year, you know, if they want to stay for

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Speaker 3: a year, so be it. You know, like you'll get

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Speaker 3: some great life experience and a hell of a lot

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Speaker 3: of money and you'll stay at mum and dad's and

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Speaker 3: pay them no rent.

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Speaker 1: Is that something that you tell them when you're doing

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Speaker 1: going through them.

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Speaker 3: I'm sure the mums and dads may be too happy

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Speaker 3: about that, but that's something for them to sort there.

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Speaker 1: I love it made I reckon that's a good way

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Speaker 1: to do it.

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Speaker 3: That's a great way to do that, and you know,

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Speaker 3: we might get people that want to stay and advance

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Speaker 3: the constable rates and all those sort of things.

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Speaker 1: Is it, like, do you find it hard to recruit

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Speaker 1: people to the police force or is it something that

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Speaker 1: you like. You're kind of fascinated by the different kinds

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Speaker 1: of people that actually want to join.

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Speaker 3: I think it's great. I've been doing this for a

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Speaker 3: number of years now, and I think of all the

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Speaker 3: people I've interviewed, I think I've interviewed people from every

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Speaker 3: continent on the planet except maybe antargetic. We get some

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Speaker 3: real diverse squads through the college, and it's interesting to

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Speaker 3: follow their development throughout their training. They come in quite

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Speaker 3: quite young and eager, but they look like a deer

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Speaker 3: in the headlights, and by the end of that six

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Speaker 3: seven months they're completely different people that they have an

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Speaker 3: air of confidence about them. They know what they're doing

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Speaker 3: and they're ready to go out there and help get it,

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Speaker 3: serve and protect the community.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and Chris, is it like?

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Speaker 2: Is it?

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Speaker 1: It's an interesting job for you in terms of taking

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Speaker 1: them through the college and you know, seeing them develop

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Speaker 1: in that way, and then when you see them out,

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Speaker 1: you know, working as police officers years later.

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Speaker 2: Extremely rewarding for me watching them come in week one,

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Speaker 2: like Surge said deer in the headlights too seven months

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Speaker 2: later for the constable course, marching out and then seeing

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Speaker 2: meeting some of the people out in the street when

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Speaker 2: I'm walking around, leaps and bounds in the way they progressed, maturity, professionalism.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, oh that's awesome.

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Speaker 1: Now tell me in terms of the next spare due

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Speaker 1: to graduate, when's that happening?

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Speaker 2: Seventh of March? Scored one. So twenty seven recruits will

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Speaker 2: graduate in the seventh of March.

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Speaker 1: And where will they be deployed to?

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Speaker 2: So they're going to be all over the territory. Catherine, Catherine,

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Speaker 2: Alice Springs and Darwin.

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Speaker 1: Wonderful stuff. Well, if anybody is after any further involved,

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Speaker 1: they're listening this morning and they're thinking, do you know what,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to become a police officer in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: What's the best thing for them to do?

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Speaker 3: Look us up online, give us a call and numbers

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Speaker 3: on the website.

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Speaker 1: We can pass that on. We'll get in. We can

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Speaker 1: let them know. But I'm sure even if they can

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Speaker 1: jump online and have a look and you'll be able

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Speaker 1: to follow the links that might be part of the recruitment. Right,

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Speaker 1: if you can follow the links and find it, then

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Speaker 1: you'll be right.

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Speaker 3: And the applications online now takes about five and it's

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Speaker 3: even if you don't want to give us a call.

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Speaker 3: This popty application and then we'll call you well.

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Speaker 1: It is wonderful to have you both in the studio

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Speaker 1: this morning. Acting Superintendent Serge Boemer and Superintendent Chris Bard.

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Speaker 1: Lovely to speak to you both. Thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for your time this morning.

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Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, thank you