Police eye new Timaru recruits
A Timaru police sergeant is encouraging those interested in joining the force to visit a recruiting seminar next week.
Sergeant Sam Stewart said six to eight police officers from various roles like the Armed Offenders Squad, search and rescue and road policing will attend at Thursday’s seminar organised to attract ‘‘those seriously considering joining the police and those who may have just thought about it’’.
‘‘We’ll be providing information on the recruiting process, what it feels like to be a police officer and the opportunities the police can provide,’’ Stewart said.
‘‘The seminar is for people who are seriously considering becoming a police officer and for those who may have thought about it but haven’t looked into the job too much. They can get a bit more information about the career.’’
Stewart said the last two recruiting seminars held in Timaru had attracted around 120 people. Although Stewart does not believe there is a shortage of police officers, she said it was always good to recruit those interested and get them started in the training process. ‘‘We don’t have a shortage. ‘‘There have been a few retirements and other officers moving on to other jobs outside the district. The recruitment and training process takes some time, and it’s good to have people in the recruiting process to replace the vacant roles.’’
Stewart said policing as a career is ‘‘great’’ and there are ‘‘so many avenues to go down’’. ‘‘It’s an amazing opportunity to develop your skill and knowledge vastly.
‘‘You usually do not get quite the limit of experience as you would in the police. There are 30 different jobs within the organisation.’’
The seminar is at the CBay Centre (programme room) at 11 Te Weka St, Timaru, from 6pm7.30pm.