It was only nine months after finishing High School that Katie joined Victoria Police. While Katie was the youngest recruit at the time, her experience as an Air Force cadet, SES volunteer and time working at St John Ambulance equipped her with the skills and confidence she needed to excel.
After graduating, Katie was stationed as a general duties officer at Narre Warren Police Station. She has loved her time on the van, especially the connection to her community it’s brought.
Video transcript
One of the things that's really important to me is protecting people. I just want people to feel safe and feel secure.
A lot of the times we meet people, it's the worst day of their life and just trying to help them through that and keep them calm is pretty important.
In this career, helping the community, you feel a lot more connected. You understand what's going on in the community. You understand different cultures.
Being a younger member of the force, I find it easier to relate to people. Some younger kids also find it more comforting to talk to someone their age.
Like I remember in Oakleigh, a recidivist offender we had who just talked to me like a friend and it was easy to build rapport with them.
It's heart-warming when you go to a job and you're looking after the children, taking a statement, holding the baby because maybe the affected family member or the victim is too overwhelmed to look after their kid at that time.
So, a lot of the times we can be looking after the children and when we leave we’ll flick the lights and sirens on and they'll just smile and it's like, oh, you just know that you're leaving them feeling happy about what you've done and you're going home smiling.
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