Students cop insights
Police experience day gives school leavers a glimpse at careers
AS THREE armed offenders storm a Toowoomba service station, 300 senior school students watch on and try to piece together the jigsaw of clues that will eventually solve the crime.
Listening intently to the fear-soaked 000 call the shop attendant made, more clues are given as the simulated police call-taker reassures the “caller” that officers are on the way.
While a fabricated situation based on a real-life crime, the scenario showed more than 300 Toowoomba school seniors the complexities involved in solving crime.
It was part of the pilot Queensland Police Experience Day at the Empire Theatre designed to showcase the various roles officers play in the community.
“It’s very important they do understand policing is different to just front-line police officers out there engaging with the community, or a detective or scenes of crime,” Darling Downs Superintendent Mark Kelly said.
“It shows them that the police service is very broad in terms of the different roles they can perform.”
Department of Employment, Small Business and Training Darling Downs South West regional director Jenelle Choyce said the pilot experience day in Toowoomba gave a personal approach to the more than 70 jobs within the QPS.
“What we have been trying to do is make sure our young people interested in this type of work get a real-life experience with what the job is actually about,” she said.