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Speaker 1: And it's always busy in here and I didn't really

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Speaker 1: anticipate it throughout the morning, but we have really taken

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Speaker 1: a bit of a journey today about some of the

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Speaker 1: issues that we're seeing around the Northern Territory when it

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Speaker 1: comes to filling jobs and some of our workforce shortages

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Speaker 1: that we are seeing around the Northern Territory. We spoke

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Speaker 1: just a short time ago to the Education Union and

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Speaker 1: earlier this morning we spoke to the Chamber of Commerce.

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Speaker 1: But I'm actually joined in the studio right now to

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Speaker 1: talk about Well Police Recruitment Search. Boemer, good morning to

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Speaker 1: you Search. How are you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie on Well and of.

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Speaker 1: Course you are the senior sergeant that does look after

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Speaker 1: police recruitment and always on the lookout for good people

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Speaker 1: to join the police force.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Katie. We're just starting a new recruitment campaign

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Speaker 2: and we're definitely looking for locals. We love it when

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Speaker 2: we get Territory born and bred people applying for our

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Speaker 2: police force. We've got a lot of opportunities available in

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory please. You know, we've got the constable stream,

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Speaker 2: we've got the auxiliary stream, we've got the Aboriginal community,

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Speaker 2: Police Officers stream and all of those individual streams have

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Speaker 2: the theme is it's you know, it's one career, but

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Speaker 2: each of them have many, many opportunities within them. And

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Speaker 2: just last week actually we went out at myself and

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Speaker 2: another team member went out to Nooker and caught up

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Speaker 2: with some members out there, and yeah, they're just it's

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Speaker 2: just one of those really really grounding experiences when you

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Speaker 2: go out and see these guys in the community and

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Speaker 2: they're part of the community, they're really engaged, and it

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Speaker 2: was really refreshing to see. And those sorts of opportunities

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Speaker 2: aren't available to everyone around the country, but they're certainly

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Speaker 2: available here in the Northern Territory Police Force, and.

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Speaker 1: So there is a new campaign under way to try

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Speaker 1: and recruit people to the force. I know that it's

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Speaker 1: something that you you know, you look at nationally. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: if you can get good people from interstate, you do that.

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Speaker 1: But growing our own and having territorians feel these jobs

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Speaker 1: as well is I would think an enormously good thing

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Speaker 1: to do. Because you're already here, you're already part of

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Speaker 1: the community. You know what to expect. You've probably been

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Speaker 1: to lots of the locations where you're actually looking for

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Speaker 1: police officers.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And you know, I think I think there's

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Speaker 2: a lot a lot to be said for people, you know,

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Speaker 2: helping their own community and actually being part of the

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Speaker 2: community before they even join. And we do find that

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Speaker 2: we do breed some tough people up here and they're

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Speaker 2: very resilient. So yeah, we definitely like targeting those, but

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Speaker 2: we do recognize also that we have to go nationally.

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Speaker 2: It's a competitive environment, so we are going to be

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Speaker 2: participating in some careers expos down South and going forward

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Speaker 2: throughout the year, but definitely encourage locals to apply look

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Speaker 2: us up. We've just simplified our application process. It doesn't

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Speaker 2: mean that we've made it easier for people tot in

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Speaker 2: there's still standards that need to be met, but what

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Speaker 2: we've done is instead of making people print out an

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Speaker 2: application form and then fill it out and then scan

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Speaker 2: it and send it back to us, we've completely automated

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Speaker 2: that now and it's on our website and you can

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Speaker 2: just go there and within about fifteen minutes on average,

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Speaker 2: most people should be able to complete an application and

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Speaker 2: get the process on the way, and we're probably the

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Speaker 2: most competitive in that regard nationally. We tend to get

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Speaker 2: people across the line and through the whole process within

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Speaker 2: about six weeks if they're motivated, which is significantly less

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Speaker 2: than other people. So you could be in your training

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Speaker 2: course within a couple of months.

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Speaker 1: Wow, I mean it seems fast, but I guess if

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Speaker 1: you can get the right people and they're able to,

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Speaker 1: you know, they're able to actually get in there and

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Speaker 1: get into that training, that's exactly what you want. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, And you know, we do want people to be motivated,

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Speaker 2: and you know, we do a lot of hard work

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Speaker 2: to to get people through all the processes, but we

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Speaker 2: do need them to also be motivated, and I think

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Speaker 2: that's part of the process as well. You identify the

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Speaker 2: good people and the people you want by how motivated

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Speaker 2: they are.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So how long have you been a police officer?

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Speaker 2: For a little while, I'm coming up to nineteen years now,

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Speaker 2: and I still love the job. I've done, the remote work,

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Speaker 2: I've specialized, and I've been a recipient of some of

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Speaker 2: those many opportunities throughout my career, and our family has

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Speaker 2: definitely got to a place now where we wouldn't have

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Speaker 2: otherwise been had it not been for my decision to

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Speaker 2: join the police force. My wife found really worthwhile employment

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Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory as a paramedic, and there's lots

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Speaker 2: of opportunities for family members also to grow in the community.

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Speaker 2: And that's really the focus of our campaign at the

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Speaker 2: moment is you want to shape your future in the territory,

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Speaker 2: and we want you to shape your future in the territory.

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Speaker 1: And I know sometimes it can be difficult, like even

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Speaker 1: this morning we've spoken on about a police assault. You know,

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Speaker 1: sometimes the job, I would imagine can be very challenging,

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Speaker 1: but I would also imagine that there is a lot

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Speaker 1: of rewarding situations that our Northern Territory police find themselves

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Speaker 1: in too.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Sure, I mean, you know, I can think of

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Speaker 2: many rewarding experiences I've had, and yeah, assaults on police

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Speaker 2: are a continual problem and it shouldn't happen, and we

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Speaker 2: certainly don't recruit people for that, and we don't expect

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Speaker 2: people to accept that as part of their employment in

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Speaker 2: any employment.

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Speaker 1: But I know that you know, in turn, obviously our

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Speaker 1: Territory police officers, no matter where you're working, you do

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Speaker 1: become such a huge part of the community as well.

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Speaker 1: And I would think that you know that even in

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Speaker 1: some of those locations where you maybe get posted to,

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Speaker 1: Like you've said, you've done remote stints, that that can

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Speaker 1: sometimes be the most rewarding part of the role.

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Speaker 2: Oh absolutely. I mean, like I said, I serve remote

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Speaker 2: probably fifteen years ago and I still to this day.

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Speaker 2: I'll walk through Casarina and you know, I'll see members

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Speaker 2: of the community I served and it's eight hundred klometers

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Speaker 2: away from here, and they'll go, oh, Search, how are you?

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Speaker 2: You know, And these guys were young, twenty year old,

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Speaker 2: and you know they're now all their family with them,

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Speaker 2: and you know they remember you and I remember them.

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Speaker 2: So it's something I really look back on with fond memories,

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Speaker 2: and my family does as well.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely. Now, anybody listening this morning, who's thinking to themselves,

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Speaker 1: do you know what I wouldn't mind having a go

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Speaker 1: at trying to become an authern Territory police officer. What's

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

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Speaker 1: And do they need to get out there and get training.

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Speaker 1: Is it something that you've got to be super fit

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Speaker 1: for search?

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Speaker 2: Sure, you've got to be fit. And we do have

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Speaker 2: fitness standards and we do the standard Fitness Test, which

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Speaker 2: is your beat test and push ups, and we have

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Speaker 2: grip tests and we do a plank, which I think

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Speaker 2: is your favorite. You all to do the plank here

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Speaker 2: at once. Not really my favorite, but look, I guess

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Speaker 2: My thing is we're there to help people to get

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Speaker 2: over the line. If they're interested. We're there to take

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Speaker 2: their questions, and not just questions from the person interested.

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Speaker 2: We really want the family to be involved. So if

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Speaker 2: you have a family member that's sort of a bit

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Speaker 2: iffy about your want to become a police officer, feel

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Speaker 2: free tell them to give us a ring and we'll

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Speaker 2: tell them what opportunities are available for them. We're trying

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Speaker 2: to recruit the whole family. It's not just getting the

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Speaker 2: police officer. We also want their family on board because

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Speaker 2: you know, without your family behind you, what have you got.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly right. It's got to be something that

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Speaker 1: the whole family's happy with and really see it as

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Speaker 1: an opportunity, I.

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Speaker 2: Guess, and it is a great opportunity. Like I said,

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Speaker 2: shape your future the NT Police and you'll never look back.

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Speaker 1: Well, Senior Sergeant Serge Boemer, it's always good to catch

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Speaker 1: up with you. We really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for coming in.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Cape,