A new Academy for the Queensland Police Service is to be established at Townsville, replacing the existing Academy which has prepared recruits for more than 25 years.
The new Academy will join the previously announced $30 million police facility — due to replace the Kirwan Police Station — with preliminary works on the facility already under way at the site of the former 1300 Smiles football stadium.
Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk said the new Townsville Police Academy would continue the significant role of developing the next generation of police officers.
“Recently we saw one of the biggest-ever intakes of recruits to the Townsville Academy, undergoing their comprehensive six-month training course,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“The intake comprised 61 recruits from all walks of life, aged 18-to-53, undergoing rigorous training with an acute emphasis on domestic and family violence.”
She said even more recruits would be needed in the future “and a new state-of-the-art training facility at the new Kirwan Police Precinct will be a significant drawcard for recruits to North Queensland”.
Queensland Police Commissioner, Katarina Carroll said the significant development cemented the QPS’s commitment to delivering world-class policing services.
“A brand new Police Academy will help us usher in a new chapter of modernisation of training for our recruits and officers in North Queensland,” Commissioner Carroll said.
“We are embarking on the largest-ever police recruiting campaign and we know having state-of-the-art training facilities right here in Townsville will be a great incentive for would-be recruits,” she said.
