What inspired me to join South Australia Police was my family and community connections.

What I like about my job is engaging with community.

Being that middle person for the community so then they can speak to myself.

Back in the country most people know who I am.

So it's beneficial that they can speak to a face that's familiar for them.

A moment that stood out for me whilst working with South Australian police was helping a young child be comfortable and happy with engaging with police.

So previously he would run from police he would be scared of police and thought that police were horrible people.

I was able to engage with him and get a positive relationship from him.

That was my biggest achievement.

What makes me feel a part of the South Australia Police is my team camaraderie. A misconception that the public have about police can be that all police are the same all police are bad people.

And I think that that is a big misconception.

Police are good people.

Police are there to help.

I think some advice I'd like to give to people wanting to join South Australian police is to be yourself.

If I can do it, anyone can do it.

If you want change, you be the change.

Being a female, I sort of wanted to break the mould with I think what is considered the most expected female in the job.

Being a girly girl, I still wanted to be me.

Within the role, people expect females in the job to be quite harsh and stern when in fact we're not.

I am someone's daughter, I'm someone's wife, I'm someone's sister.

And it's about trying to look past the uniform.

One of the main qualities you really do have to have is resilience.

You've just gotta you'll get, you'll feel like your confidence is knocked and you've got to get straight back up and just do it.

I always have this saying - You fake it till you make it.

You do have to be a little bit strong willed.

Because if I'm going into a situation where it's me and my partner and we're very much outnumbered, I can't be meek and mild.

I do have to have that point where I do have to step up and actually be very commanding and firm and stern.

I think the best thing that a police officer can have in their back pocket is communication skills, because you can talk to anybody.

It's where I'm meant to be.

I don't really see myself ever doing anything else.

I've tried it.

I've done other jobs, and this is just, this is me.

There's nothing else.

I couldn't see me not wearing this uniform

I don't know if I can pinpoint a particular incident for me that really stands out as a point where I felt like I've achieved what I needed to achieve.

I guess it's a combination of all the different things that I have done through my career.

You do get people, victims, witnesses sometimes, funnily enough, even suspects who end up thanking you for the job that you've done, helping them, getting out of situations, helping them when they're having one of their roughest days.

I think the combination of all the jobs that I've done has sort of fulfilled that for me.

I like the fact that I get to meet all different types of people who want to become police officers.

I get to share in the passion that I have for the job and hopefully help these people also gain that passion or gain that experience in getting into policing and fulfilling their dream.

A big misconception I think that people have that want to get into the job, comes from young people thinking that they need to go away and get what they call life experience prior to joining.

That is a big misconception.

We're looking at recruiting people of any age, 18 or above.

South Australia Police tries to represent its community, every facet of the community.

So I guess I'm just bringing my little piece to it.

I like to think that I'm doing that in a way that is useful.

I enjoy the job.

I like to think I'm quite good at the job that I do and yeah, I guess that's that's where I fit in

I like to think that I fit in.

Always wanted to be a police officer ever since I was younger.

I started off as a PSO and now I'm here. I really like my job because every day is different.

I get to go out, you know, not stuck behind a desk - yeah, real variety every day.

It's not all about fitness and stuff. I think that's a misconception.

I think it's a lot of brains behind the job.

When I first joined I was very closed off and shy but going through it, you know it’s something I've developed as being more open and being able to talk to different people every day.

Helping people, in like domestic violence situations I think really taking that positive action is actually something that’s like, you know being able to help someone in their lowest moments is actually really meaningful to me.

Everyone makes you feel welcome. I feel, part of the family.

It's like everyone gets around each other, so it's it's a good support network.

I wish I joined straight out of school.

I think it's a really good job. I can see my staying at it for a while, so I just wish I joined when I was younger.

I was inspired to join the police because I've always felt like I wanted a job where I would be able to help people especially at the worst times of their life, that I'd be the one that would be able to come in and help them.

I found my journey with SAPOL really rewarding so far. The Academy experience was pretty challenging, but I learned a lot and I think it really equipped me to do a good job out on the road.

Since I graduated, I've had so many opportunities to learn and grow and develop.

One of the most rewarding jobs that I've been to is a house fire where the family lost everything that they owned.

There's not a lot the police can do in that instance but just being there is a comfort and the support for the family knowing that they had someone there to take them through the process and help them understand what the next steps were and what we could do to help was really rewarding for me.

I think being able to empathise with people is a quality that it's good to come to SAPOL with. And obviously you can develop it as you get exposed to different situations. But as a whole, I think understanding people and genuinely wanting to help them is the most important part.

I joined the police because my childhood dream always was to be a police officer.

It's like working in a great team. It's really good people around me and they give you so much encourage, helping, teamwork.

It makes you, you want to come every day to work because it's just, people around you is very friendly.

You can see me as a coming from a different culture and English is been a fourth language I was a little bit struggle, not that much but once I got in, I then I feel like oh this is it, this is pretty this is pretty easy.

What I was expecting, it's going to be really tough. I think I did take it as a challenge that other one and joining to the SAPOL.

I think that's made me proud of being in SAPOL. You don't have to be scared to get into the police. It's a pretty good gig. I would say don't, don't get fear or don't don't think that something’s holding you.

Don’t do that. Just put your application and join.

I’ve been in a long time. I feel really quite comfortable now and confident, I guess maybe with age.

Yeah, I'm really comfortable in my work and happy with what I do.

The people that you work with just building those relationships with your colleagues.

Having a laugh?

Yeah! Just I think enjoying what you do and having a good time with them. Getting to know them on a personal level.

I love that in SAPOL you can have so many different jobs within the organisation.

I have done a load of different roles and I've loved them all.

I think…there's not probably one I would choose over the other.

You need to be able to think on your feet.

You need to be versatile.

You need to be resilient.

Above everything, you need to be able to communicate well.

You need to have people around you that are confident in you and also being confident in yourself.

And I guess knowing you're doing something worthwhile and useful in the community.

Ever since I was a kid I wanted to see myself in uniform.

Am I’m in uniform that’s why I love it.

I love being in the uniform.

It’s been 18 years in the police.

I have done seven years in New Zealand and almost 11 years here.

And, uh, there’s no regrets.

One of the highlights is I’ve been to Solomon Islands.

I spent six months there as part of the RAMSI mission.

I think I’m a role model for my community.

When people see me in this uniform, especially with my turban on and they feel like they are part of the community as an Australian, it’s a very multicultural and I’m a good example of multiculturalism.

I think in SAPOL you have to be honest and should work under stress.

Because there are situations when you deal with stress and you have to be tough enough to deal with those sort of situations.

I’ve never had any issues so far so it’s very easy going.

I would say just try and work hard.

Seeing other police officers inspired me to join SAPOL.

When I saw police out in the street I had a chance to speak to them and interact with them and I knew that I wanted to be one of those people.

One of those officers.

The part I like most about SAPOL is the teamwork. You work together as a team.

It's like a little family and experience different things together is what I enjoy.

I like the diversity the different types of jobs. So there's a little bit of paperwork and there's a lot of interpersonal and community work that we do.

So I enjoy both aspects of policing.

I've demonstrated those qualities in the daily taskings that we get as a police officer going to jobs and just being in front of the public eye.

The qualities that you need to join SAPOL include interpersonal skills, honesty, integrity and I guess openness to experiences.

Some advice for someone who's thinking applying would be to persevere.

Sort of identify where where you could improve and work on that then you can go anywhere.

Police security is a new developing role.

It's not a very recognised role within SAPOL.

So I think bringing awareness to what we do for people to know that this is a different avenue of police that they can do rather than just your general policing is good to bring awareness to.

A career highlight for me would definitely be graduation just saying goodbye to everyone that we joined together with.

And when you spend every day together, it was a very emotional and also a proud moment for all of us, to say goodbye to one another and throw our hats off into the sky after graduation.

I believe that you need to have confidence and passion in what you want to do and be able to help people in many different ways, I think is very important.

I like that I get to work alongside so many other people, different backgrounds, age groups, and we get to be so involved in the community and have so many interactions with different kinds of people.

I've been very community driven since I was young and I just want to be there to help people in any way I can.