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While going to the gym is usually reserved as a way to get fit and healthy, for a group of high school students in the Cardinia Police Service Area (PSA), it has also been a way to engage with local police. About 160 students from Minaret College, St Francis Xavier College and Pakenham Secondary College joined 30 local police for the newly-introduced Cardinia Cop Camp. The program involved officers and students training together once a week for nine weeks to prepare for a simulation of the fitness test recruits must pass to enter the Victoria Police Academy. Pakenham Secondary College year 10 student Lleyton Blick was one of the students who took part in the program and said the chance to train alongside police was something he found slightly daunting at first. “I’ve never really had much personal experience with police and didn’t know what to think about spending time at a gym with them,” he said.
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POLICE LIFE | SUMMER 2019-20
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“But after one session, that hesitation was gone because once you get talking to them and learn about their lives, you realise they are just like everyone else. “I might have been hesitant in the past to walk up to an officer and just chat with them, but now I know a lot of them personally if I ever needed their help or advice I wouldn’t hesitate to talk to any police officer.” Cardinia PSA community engagement coordinator Senior Constable Riki-Lee White said it was encouraging to see the connection between the students and police develop every week.
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“There were a fair few students who were like Lleyton and a bit hesitant around the officers at first,” Sen Const White said. “But by the end they were laughing and joking around with them and having a bit of banter about the exercises. “That setting of training in a gym brought out a bit of light-hearted competition between the students and officers which just helped strengthen the connections.” The program culminated in a carnival day, held at the end of October, where the students were able to put their training to good use, undergoing the Victoria Police recruit fitness test.
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