Nigerian recruit to be next officer?

Police recruit Steve Omotosho wants to walk the Toowoomba beat We live here ‘cos we love it!

‘‘ I LOVE TO HELP PEOPLE AND SERVE THE COMMUNITY IN WHICH I FIND MYSELF.

THE ever changing cultural face of Toowoomba has extended to the city’s Thin Blue Line with the Toowoomba Police Station welcoming its first Nigerian recruit.

Steve Omotosho hails from Nigeria where he was a computer technician.

About five years ago, Mr Omotosho moved to Malaysia where he met his wife Adeline and ran a business in Greenhouse Farming, growing melons, chillies, cucumbers and the like under the fertigation method.

However, his career path was to take a drastic turn after migrating to Australia and upon his arriving in Toowoomba with his wife Adeline and the couple’s two children, Olivia, 8, and six-year-old Emmanuel who attend school in Toowoomba.

After settling into life in the Garden City, Mr Omotosho felt the desire to give back to the community and sought a career with the Queensland Police Service with which he is now an official recruit.

“I love to help people and serve the community in which I find myself,” Mr Omotosho explained.

“Australia is a great country which has given me and my family a place to be and I want to give back to the community where I can.”

Having done a 10-week induction course to the Queensland Police Service, Mr Omotosho became a police recruit and is one month into studies at the Queensland Police Academy.

“I have another six months to do at the academy and hopefully I will graduate in January next year,” he said.

“Then I will be a first year constable and I’m hoping and praying that I will be placed in Toowoomba as a constable.”

Mr Omotosho certainly has the backing of colleagues among the Toowoomba Police Station including Superintendent Mark Kelly.

“We really hope Steve will be posted to Toowoomba when he comes out of the academy,” Superintendent Kelly said.

Mr Omotosho said raising his family in a safe environment with endless opportunities for them had prompted he and his wife to migrate to Australia.

“I just thought Australia was the proper place to raise our children,” he said.

“There are so many opportunities for them here.

“There are a lot of opportunities that I wish I had when I was young.”

Photo: Bev Lacey WILLING TO SERVE: Nigerian police recruit Steve Omotoshi is hoping to remain in Toowoomba when he completes his police academy training in January.