Kingaroy Police are hosting another local police recruit this week, this time a graduate from Nanango State High School.
Tom Joice completed Year 12 in 2008.
He will be sworn in as a 1st Year Police Constable later this year after completing 28 weeks of training at the Oxley Police Academy.
Tom said he originally thought he would like a career in the Defence Forces, and then considered the Military Police.
“Then I thought, why not the regular police?” he said.
“I like the idea of living in a safe country. If I can do my part, I will be glad to do it.”
Tom said he had enjoyed being at the Oxley Academy.
“The Academy was everything I thought it would be. I loved it,” he said.
His first day of “prac” at Kingaroy tossed him in the deep end.
While out on patrol with another officer, they were called to an incident in Nanango which required several police units and which resulted in a man facing several charges.
“It was pretty crazy,” Tom said.
The physical side of the job doesn’t worry him because he has trained in martial arts. The reality of dealing with car crash victims doesn’t bother him, either.
“It’s all part of the job. You step back and just do what you have to do,” he said.
Tom has his next 12 months mapped out for him by the QPS. First he will be assigned to Albany Creek, then he has short stint with Tactical Crime before being posted to North Lakes.
Long-term he’d like to try out for the Special Emergency Response Team or the Public Safety Response Team but for the moment he’s happy to learn as much as he can in general duties.
“It’s great to have a career where you can put in hard work and go places with it,” he said.
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