Wednesday, 8 February 2012 4:30am

New SA Police Academy open for business

It was a landmark day for the South Australia Police. SAPOL’s newest officers graduated at the official opening of the new Police Academy.

The 25 cadets are the first group to graduate from SAPOL’s new training and development facility. This group began training at the old Fort Largs Police Academy last year. They have also had the benefit of completing their training at the facilities in the new Police Academy.

“As our new officers embark on the next stage of their careers, they take with them the values, expectations and standards forged throughout their time in both the old and new Police Academies,” South Australia Police Commissioner Mal Hyde said.

New Police Academy at Taperoo

Located at Taperoo, the new Academy incorporates the solid foundation of SAPOL’s history and ethos; and also provides contemporary training facilities to ensure the South Australia Police is best equipped to meet the challenges of the future.

“The Academy is literally the doorway, the entrance into a career as a police officer,” he said.An instructor provides advice to cadets at the Scenario Village.

“It is where the transition from a civilian to a police officer takes place. Life for every police officer changes, it can never be the same again as policing is such a unique profession,” he said.

“The Academy is the catalyst for that change.”

All current police, and most retirees, undertook their training at the Fort Largs Police Academy. Many have fond memories and stories of their time spent at the Academy.

After 50 years of continual use, the aging facilities of the Fort Largs Police Academy no longer met SAPOL’s training requirements. The standard of the buildings and infrastructure was poor. Fort Largs Police Academy was decommissioned following the final graduation at the site on 14 December 2011.

Following an extensive consultation process, construction of the new Police Academy began on the land adjacent to Fort Largs in February 2010. Construction of the new $53.4 million training and development facility has been completed on time and is expected to be on budget.

The modern and contemporary training facility will enable SAPOL to provide more modern-day training and development practices.

Our new Academy also boasts contemporary facilities for intelligence and detective training; and incident management training. It is also where we train our managers and supervisors.

As a registered training organisation, the Police Academy offers the Advanced Diploma in Police Investigations. We will continue our partnerships with vocational and higher education providers at our new Academy.

SAPOL embraces a culture of whole working life training and development; and emphasises the development of leadership potential.

This reflects the constant pace of change faced by both the community and the police as well the increasingly complex nature of criminal investigations.

“We are very proud of our new Academy and the training facilities that position our organisation and our people for the next wave of change,” Commissioner Hyde said.

“Graduates of the new Police Academy will benefit from the facility when establishing their careers and continue an ongoing association of learning. This will contribute to the greater improvement of the services that SAPOL offers.”

Fingerprint scanner in the Scenario Village at the new Police Academy.

KEY FEATURES OF THE NEW ACADEMY INCLUDE:

SCENARIO VILLAGE: Consists of four main areas: A house that includes a blood splatter room, kitchen, bedrooms and garage/cannabis grow room; a bar; a pharmacy; a bank and a replication of an operational Police Station that includes a “sally port”, cage car, fingerprint scanner, cell complex and prisoner processing. The purpose of the scenario village is to provide facilities that enable realistic replication of operational situations faced by police officers.

It will be used for both cadet training and training of in-service officers.

The scenario village is to be located with the driver training facilities, and in close proximity to the indoor firing range and the fitness/defensive tactics centre; in a zone that is the most distant from the residential development and away from the Technology & Resource Centre.

CLASSROOMS: Classrooms are fitted with smart whiteboards, ceiling mounted projectors, dimmable lighting and have wi-fi connectivity that can plug into data projectors and ceiling mounted speakers.
AUDITORIUM, TIERED LECTURE ROOM AND DINING FACILITY: The auditorium and tiered lecture room can be used for multi purposes, such as corporate presentations, graduations, conferences and group training. The tiered lecture room seats 250. It is fitted with smart whiteboards, ceiling mounted projectors, dimmable lighting, and has wi-fi connectivity with capacity to plug into the data projector and ceiling mounted speakers.
PARADE GROUND: At the conclusion of cadet training there is important emphasis on a formal graduation in the traditional style, with up to 400 people attending. The Parade Ground is integral to these functions.
It has a dual purpose, accommodating tactical exercises when not in use for graduation parades and other formal ceremonies.
WALL OF REMEMBRANCE: A Police Memorial, the Wall of Remembrance and Anzac Memorial is incorporated in the Parade Ground. Four flag poles are located on the Parade Ground, in line with state protocol.
FITNESS CENTRE & DEFENSIVE TACTICS SAPOL emphasises the health and wellbeing of our cadets who are required to reach and maintain a certain level of fitness to complete the rigorous training.
The Fitness Centre has a fit-for- purpose gymnasium and weights training facilities with concertina doors that open to access an outdoor obstacle and running course.
Defensive tactics are conducted in two padded rooms to teach and train cadets and other course participants in self defence.
DRIVER TRAINING: Driver Training includes a Monte Carlo manoeuvring area and vehicle manoeuvring pavement. Driver Training is also conducted at external sites such as Mallala.
ACCOMMODATION BLOCK: Overnight accommodation is provided to cadets, sworn officers and non-sworn officers when they participate in courses at the Police Academy.
The accommodation block contains 20 motel style individual sleeping quarters, communal cooking, laundry and recreational facilities.
LIBRARY, TECHNOLOGY AND RESOURCE CENTRE: The Library is co-located with the Technology and Resource Centre. This provides the hub for technology and research that provides greater access for cadets and other course participants to the Academy’s learning resources such library information services, data bases and computer equipment.