Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Police Senior Sergeant Serge Bouma on the recruiting drive for officers in the NT

Transcript

NT Police Senior Sergeant Serge Bouma on the recruiting drive for officers in the NT · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And it's always busy in here and I didn't really
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: anticipate it throughout the morning, but we have really taken
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: a bit of a journey today about some of the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: issues that we're seeing around the Northern Territory when it
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: comes to filling jobs and some of our workforce shortages
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: that we are seeing around the Northern Territory. We spoke
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  Speaker 1: just a short time ago to the Education Union and
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  Speaker 1: earlier this morning we spoke to the Chamber of Commerce.
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  Speaker 1: But I'm actually joined in the studio right now to
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  Speaker 1: talk about Well Police Recruitment Search. Boemer, good morning to
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  Speaker 1: you Search. How are you.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie on Well and of.
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  Speaker 1: Course you are the senior sergeant that does look after
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  Speaker 1: police recruitment and always on the lookout for good people
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  Speaker 1: to join the police force.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Katie. We're just starting a new recruitment campaign
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  Speaker 2: and we're definitely looking for locals. We love it when
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  Speaker 2: we get Territory born and bred people applying for our
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  Speaker 2: police force. We've got a lot of opportunities available in
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory please. You know, we've got the constable stream,
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  Speaker 2: we've got the auxiliary stream, we've got the Aboriginal community,
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  Speaker 2: Police Officers stream and all of those individual streams have
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  Speaker 2: the theme is it's you know, it's one career, but
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  Speaker 2: each of them have many, many opportunities within them. And
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  Speaker 2: just last week actually we went out at myself and
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  Speaker 2: another team member went out to Nooker and caught up
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  Speaker 2: with some members out there, and yeah, they're just it's
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  Speaker 2: just one of those really really grounding experiences when you
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  Speaker 2: go out and see these guys in the community and
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  Speaker 2: they're part of the community, they're really engaged, and it
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  Speaker 2: was really refreshing to see. And those sorts of opportunities
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  Speaker 2: aren't available to everyone around the country, but they're certainly
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  Speaker 2: available here in the Northern Territory Police Force, and.
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  Speaker 1: So there is a new campaign under way to try
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  Speaker 1: and recruit people to the force. I know that it's
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  Speaker 1: something that you you know, you look at nationally. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: if you can get good people from interstate, you do that.
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  Speaker 1: But growing our own and having territorians feel these jobs
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  Speaker 1: as well is I would think an enormously good thing
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  Speaker 1: to do. Because you're already here, you're already part of
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  Speaker 1: the community. You know what to expect. You've probably been
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  Speaker 1: to lots of the locations where you're actually looking for
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  Speaker 1: police officers.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And you know, I think I think there's
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  Speaker 2: a lot a lot to be said for people, you know,
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  Speaker 2: helping their own community and actually being part of the
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  Speaker 2: community before they even join. And we do find that
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  Speaker 2: we do breed some tough people up here and they're
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  Speaker 2: very resilient. So yeah, we definitely like targeting those, but
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  Speaker 2: we do recognize also that we have to go nationally.
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  Speaker 2: It's a competitive environment, so we are going to be
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  Speaker 2: participating in some careers expos down South and going forward
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  Speaker 2: throughout the year, but definitely encourage locals to apply look
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  Speaker 2: us up. We've just simplified our application process. It doesn't
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  Speaker 2: mean that we've made it easier for people tot in
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  Speaker 2: there's still standards that need to be met, but what
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  Speaker 2: we've done is instead of making people print out an
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  Speaker 2: application form and then fill it out and then scan
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  Speaker 2: it and send it back to us, we've completely automated
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  Speaker 2: that now and it's on our website and you can
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  Speaker 2: just go there and within about fifteen minutes on average,
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  Speaker 2: most people should be able to complete an application and
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  Speaker 2: get the process on the way, and we're probably the
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  Speaker 2: most competitive in that regard nationally. We tend to get
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  Speaker 2: people across the line and through the whole process within
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  Speaker 2: about six weeks if they're motivated, which is significantly less
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  Speaker 2: than other people. So you could be in your training
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  Speaker 2: course within a couple of months.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, I mean it seems fast, but I guess if
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  Speaker 1: you can get the right people and they're able to,
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  Speaker 1: you know, they're able to actually get in there and
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  Speaker 1: get into that training, that's exactly what you want. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, And you know, we do want people to be motivated,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, we do a lot of hard work
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  Speaker 2: to to get people through all the processes, but we
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  Speaker 2: do need them to also be motivated, and I think
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  Speaker 2: that's part of the process as well. You identify the
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  Speaker 2: good people and the people you want by how motivated
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  Speaker 2: they are.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. So how long have you been a police officer?
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  Speaker 2: For a little while, I'm coming up to nineteen years now,
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  Speaker 2: and I still love the job. I've done, the remote work,
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  Speaker 2: I've specialized, and I've been a recipient of some of
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  Speaker 2: those many opportunities throughout my career, and our family has
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  Speaker 2: definitely got to a place now where we wouldn't have
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  Speaker 2: otherwise been had it not been for my decision to
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  Speaker 2: join the police force. My wife found really worthwhile employment
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  Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory as a paramedic, and there's lots
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  Speaker 2: of opportunities for family members also to grow in the community.
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  Speaker 2: And that's really the focus of our campaign at the
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  Speaker 2: moment is you want to shape your future in the territory,
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  Speaker 2: and we want you to shape your future in the territory.
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  Speaker 1: And I know sometimes it can be difficult, like even
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  Speaker 1: this morning we've spoken on about a police assault. You know,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes the job, I would imagine can be very challenging,
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  Speaker 1: but I would also imagine that there is a lot
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  Speaker 1: of rewarding situations that our Northern Territory police find themselves
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  Speaker 1: in too.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Sure, I mean, you know, I can think of
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  Speaker 2: many rewarding experiences I've had, and yeah, assaults on police
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  Speaker 2: are a continual problem and it shouldn't happen, and we
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  Speaker 2: certainly don't recruit people for that, and we don't expect
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  Speaker 2: people to accept that as part of their employment in
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  Speaker 2: any employment.
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  Speaker 1: But I know that you know, in turn, obviously our
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  Speaker 1: Territory police officers, no matter where you're working, you do
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  Speaker 1: become such a huge part of the community as well.
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  Speaker 1: And I would think that you know that even in
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  Speaker 1: some of those locations where you maybe get posted to,
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  Speaker 1: Like you've said, you've done remote stints, that that can
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  Speaker 1: sometimes be the most rewarding part of the role.
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  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely. I mean, like I said, I serve remote
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  Speaker 2: probably fifteen years ago and I still to this day.
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  Speaker 2: I'll walk through Casarina and you know, I'll see members
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  Speaker 2: of the community I served and it's eight hundred klometers
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  Speaker 2: away from here, and they'll go, oh, Search, how are you?
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  Speaker 2: You know, And these guys were young, twenty year old,
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  Speaker 2: and you know they're now all their family with them,
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  Speaker 2: and you know they remember you and I remember them.
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  Speaker 2: So it's something I really look back on with fond memories,
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  Speaker 2: and my family does as well.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Now, anybody listening this morning, who's thinking to themselves,
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  Speaker 1: do you know what I wouldn't mind having a go
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  Speaker 1: at trying to become an authern Territory police officer. What's
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  Speaker 1: the best what's the best thing for them to do?
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  Speaker 1: And do they need to get out there and get training.
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  Speaker 1: Is it something that you've got to be super fit
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  Speaker 1: for search?
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  Speaker 2: Sure, you've got to be fit. And we do have
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  Speaker 2: fitness standards and we do the standard Fitness Test, which
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  Speaker 2: is your beat test and push ups, and we have
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: grip tests and we do a plank, which I think
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  Speaker 2: is your favorite. You all to do the plank here
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  Speaker 2: at once. Not really my favorite, but look, I guess
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  Speaker 2: My thing is we're there to help people to get
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  Speaker 2: over the line. If they're interested. We're there to take
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  Speaker 2: their questions, and not just questions from the person interested.
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  Speaker 2: We really want the family to be involved. So if
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  Speaker 2: you have a family member that's sort of a bit
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  Speaker 2: iffy about your want to become a police officer, feel
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  Speaker 2: free tell them to give us a ring and we'll
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  Speaker 2: tell them what opportunities are available for them. We're trying
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  Speaker 2: to recruit the whole family. It's not just getting the
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  Speaker 2: police officer. We also want their family on board because
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  Speaker 2: you know, without your family behind you, what have you got.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly right. It's got to be something that
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  Speaker 1: the whole family's happy with and really see it as
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  Speaker 1: an opportunity, I.
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  Speaker 2: Guess, and it is a great opportunity. Like I said,
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  Speaker 2: shape your future the NT Police and you'll never look back.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Senior Sergeant Serge Boemer, it's always good to catch
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  Speaker 1: up with you. We really appreciate your time this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for coming in.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Cape,