Chief Commissioner Simon Overland met the recruits in training earlier today, when he joined other senior police on the Academy’s parade ground for morning inspection.

Victoria Police initiated the recruitment drive after the government announced it would provide an additional 120 police officers to resource the ORU. This is on top of the 350 extra police promised for this term of government, with the delivery of the newest members of Victoria Police by the end of this financial year.
 
Mr Overland said whilst the latest recruitment push had been successful, Victoria Police is committed to finding people with the skills and qualities needed to become a police officer.

 “In recent months there has been a strong focus on recruitment as we work to resource the Operational Response Unit and fulfil the government’s commitment of additional police,” he said.

“We currently have 440 recruits in training at the Victoria Police Academy - double the usual number of recruits. All of these members will be operational and either provide additional staff at various stations across the state or fill positions vacated by members moving over to the ORU or leaving the organisation.

“The larger than normal intake has meant that we have been actively assisting people moving through the pre-recruit process more efficiently – offering condensed selection days to reduce the time it takes to complete the recruitment process.”

Mr Overland said in coming months Victoria Police will continue the recruitment push, with the launch of a new advertising campaign.

“There is no shortage of people wanting to join Victoria Police, but we are always looking for more potential recruits,” Mr Overland said.

“We want our police to be reflective of the community they serve. This means attracting people from a broad range of cultural backgrounds and experiences and people from regional and metropolitan Melbourne and even interstate and overseas.

“The community has high expectations of their police and we must attract the best people. Joining Victoria Police is not just about having a job, it is about embracing a career which offers a wide range of different and challenging roles. Few professions can match the diversity of police work.

“Victoria Police is an organisation that is committed to developing and training our people. It is not for everyone and we are looking for people who clearly demonstrate and uphold Victoria Police’s values.”

Mr Overland said the latest recruit intake represented the diversity Victoria Police was keen to maintain.

With the three newest squads, 26 of the 72 recruits are female. The youngest recruit is 20 and the oldest is 49. One is a farmer, whilst others have worked as radio announcers, travel agents, arborists, bartenders and in the aviation industry. Twelve of the 72 speak another language including Greek, Armenien, Polish, Italian, Spanish, Hindi and Norwegian.

Mr Overland said the latest campaign is expected to be launched in March 2010. The $1 million project includes some advertising and developing a new recruit website so potential applicants can learn more about Victoria Police and the recruitment process.

Mr Overland said the campaign would represent ‘policing as it is’.

“The campaign will highlight the day to day realties and challenges faced by police as they go about responding to incidents and engaging with the community,” he said.

“Many other policing jurisdictions run regular recruitment campaigns to attract the right people for the job. Over the past nine years we have not had any formal campaigns, and while we continue to attract recruits I think there is scope for us to attract a more diverse range of people.

 “This is about making a genuine investment in Victoria Police so that we can diversify, better connect with the community it serves and continue to attract the best people for the job.”

Mr Overland said the Operational Response Unit was expected to become operational in March, with a number of targeted operations planned across the state to tackle road policing, public order and other crime trends such as weapon offences.

People interested in joining Victoria Police can visit www.police.vic.gov.au

For media enquiries please contact:

Victoria Police Media Unit
03 9247 5205