QUEANBEYAN Police received a recruitment boost this week in the form of two dedicated new probationary constables, Tori Murray and Tegan Mares.
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The two newly minted police officers formed part of a class of 313 students to graduate from the NSW Police Academy in Goulburn last Friday, and started work in Queanbeyan the following Monday.
Both women fought hard to achieve their long-held aspirations to become police officers.
For Tori Murray, it came after a lengthy, high-level stint in the Canberra property sector. However she said she could no longer ignore what she said was her calling to be a police officer.
"Sometimes in life you have a calling, and to ignore that is very hard and I couldn't ignore it any longer. It was time to do something about it," she said.
Constable Murray had studied forensics, criminology and intelligence subjects at university and continued to study them in her spare time while working in the property sector, when she decided it was time to pursue her policing dream full-time.
"I thought about it [joining the police force] when I left school, and I started doing some education in the areas of forensics and pathology. But financially, it was very hard to be studying and working so I just went out into the workforce.
"And as the years went on I sort of kept my hand in it by furthering my education in criminology, criminal justice and intelligence. It was a bit strange- I was studying part time and working full time, but I felt I was really sitting on the sidelines. I just really wanted to get into it," she said.
Her colleague, Constable Mares, also fought hard for her policing dream.
She recalls wanting to be a police officer from the age of four, and after working as an apprentice hairdresser after high school, she decided it was time to get in shape and attempt to join the force.
But first she had to lose 40 kilograms, and slugged it out in the gym twice a day over six months to get fit.
"When I was in kindergarten, I'd see a cop car and I'd be hanging out the window. I always said I wanted to be a police man when I was little. As I grew up I realised it was actually a police woman," she laughed.
Both women said they were extremely proud to have graduated from an intense and physically demanding eight-month course at the Police Academy, and will spend the next three years working in Queanbeyan as general duties' police officers.