Jasmine’s Living The Dream

April 15, 2016

Former Kingaroy High School student Jasmine Bonwick is just a couple of months away from making a dream come true.

The 19-year-old will be sworn in at the end of June as a 1st Year Police Constable after completing 28 weeks of intensive training at the Oxley Police Academy.

Jasmine returned to her old stomping ground this week to complete the “prac” side of her training at Kingaroy Police Station.

She has been accompanying local police on jobs, including catching a shoplifter, attending a car rollover, watching as police executed drug search warrants, and dealing with a mentally ill person who was attempting self-harm.

And she’s loving it!

“Particularly this practical part of it, seeing what we do out on the streets,” she said.

Jasmine told southburnett.com.au she first began thinking about a career in the police force mid-way through high school.

She liked the idea of getting a job that was different every day.

“You never know what you’re going to do,” she said.

She’s looking forward to the different challenges.

The thought of dealing with drunken and violent offenders doesn’t really scare her.

“The training they give you in the Academy helps but you are also have your team around,” she said.

And she’s not all that fazed about the reality of dealing with dead bodies.

“I have visited the morgue already. It’s part of the job, otherwise don’t do the job,” she said.

And handling people with mental health problems?

“You go in there and try not to be attached. You do the best you can for them,” she said.

Jasmine said her training had made her feel more confident about handling different situations.

She’s not surprised with what’s she’s been learning about the “other” side of life in Kingaroy.

“At the Academy you get to see what the predominant issues are,” she said. “It’s not unusual to have drugs in the town. But as a normal resident you don’t normally get exposed to it.”

However, she admits that Academy, itself, had taken a bit of getting used to.

“The traffic!” she said.

Long-term, Jasmine’s interested in joining the tactical squad or criminal investigations but she’s certain she wants to make the police force her lifetime career.

She will be posted to Dalby Police Station for 12 months after she is sworn in.

From early July, Jasmine will have all the rights and responsibilities of senior police, including the power to make arrests.

She’s definitely travelled a long way since she started her education at Taabinga State School not all that many years ago.

  Police