Highest Number Of Police Applications On Record
The Malinauskas Labor Government’s unprecedented investment to the South Australian Police has resulted in the highest number of police applications on record.
In 2024-25, SAPOL received 3,050 applications with more than 310 officers sworn in last calendar year – a huge jump from just 996 applications in 2019-20.
A total of 439 recruits commenced training in the past calendar year, which includes 384 new and experienced police officer recruits and 55 police security officer recruits – this is up from 264 recruits in the same period last year.
Next month, there will be over 80 recruits across the constable development program, the SAPOL transition program and police security officer program. The last time more than 80 commenced training in one month was in April 2010.
The international recruitment campaign has also seen positive results with 230 offers accepted, 118 officers commenced training at the Academy, with 95 officers already deployed to roles across the state. A further 40 recruits will commence training next month with 56 recruits preparing to relocate to SA and begin their training before June this year.
The latest data comes as the Police Minister and Police Commissioner welcome the newest graduates at the South Australia Police Academy today.
It comes as resignations and retirements fall to 109, down from 228 the year before – a drop of 52 per cent. In 2023-24 it was 254 and in 2022-23 it was 263 as we inherited a staffing crisis that we have now started to turn around.
The significant investment of the Malinauskas Labor Government provided $12.2m over three years from 2023-24 to accelerate recruitment with measures including increasing the number of courses delivered by the Police Academy, engaging in recruitment campaigns, and improving vocational pathways.
One of these pathways is the Pathway to Policing program – an innovative school-based initiative designed to create a direct employment pathway into South Australia Police and has today delivered its first Police Academy graduate.
19-year-old Balian officially graduated as part of Course 87 today, becoming the first student to progress from the Pathway to Policing program through to Police Academy graduation. This marks a major milestone for the program, which launched as a pilot in 2024.
Balian completed the SACE Stage 2 program at Thebarton Senior College while in year 12. He then progressed through the SAPOL recruitment process and nine months of training at the Police Academy.
This program will expand under a new partnership with Roma Mitchell College which will launch this year.
The Malinauskas Labor Government’s investments in police and legislative reform are making a difference to the community with latest crime statistics revealing total offences against a person or property are down four per cent.
The October rolling year crime statistics reveal property related crimes have decreased by six per cent, continuing a downward trend recorded for the past 14 reporting periods.
As put by Blair Boyer
This is a government that supports the work of our South Australian police officers and invests in the programs and resources for them to protect our communities.
The work they do can be difficult and demanding – which is why we need to value every one of our officers, who put their safety on the line each day to protect us.
We have put our money where our mouth is by investing in SAPOL with the largest boost to police funding in the state’s history in this past State Budget.
And we are seeing real results – the highest number of police applications on record. Not only that, but we have seen 14 months of rolling data where crime is falling across our state.
These investments are making a real difference to the front line, and in turn, the safety of our community.
As put by Commissioner of Police, Grant Stevens
The Pathway to Policing program is designed to improve the successful recruitment of young people into SAPOL by developing communication, critical thinking, problem-solving and professionalism – essential skills for policing.
Since the pilot began in 2024, 25 students have completed the Thebarton Senior College SACE Stage 2 Pathway to Policing program.
This year 15 Year 12 students are enrolled to commence the program at Thebarton Senior College in 2026, and we have established a new partnership with Roma Mitchell Secondary College.
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