“We take a young man, give him four months training, tell him he’s a policeman and shove him out into the street. In 1969, that just is not good enough.”
The forthright comments of then-Police Minister Max Hodges, as quoted in the Sunday Sun on September 12, 1969, were controversial, but they represented a fundamental shift in the way police began to think about the calibre of their workforce.
Fifty years ago today, the Queensland Police Academy was officially opened, ushering in a new era of professionalism that paved a path for other states to follow, and continues to underpin police training today.
In the late 1960s, societal values were changing and a greater proportion of people in the general population had received tertiary education.
Police ‘cadets’ needed only to have completed Year 10 to be accepted, and they were assigned to a police establishment with no formal training program.
Their education and experience from that point was the luck of the draw until at age 19, they received 12 weeks training designed to prepare an adult for police work.
Cabinet made the momentous decision in June 1970 to build a dedicated Police Academy and establish a new system of police training.
The training system would strive to produce a police service as well educated as the community it served, and sensitive to the changing values and expectations of a dynamic society.
It was a visionary idea, and one that was enthusiastically shared by the man who stepped forward to bring it to fruition, Commissioner Ray Whitrod.
Commissioner Whitrod led the then-Queensland Police Department from 1970 until 1976 with a progressive agenda of boosting education, fighting corruption and introducing equal pay and recognition for women.
Minister Hodges was not only the Minister for Police, but also the Minister for Works, a happy combination that saw the $4 million complex open for business within 18 months.
Built on 42 acres of land at Oxley, news reports of the day describe it as the most advanced centre of its kind in Australia, with a library, laboratories, learning resource centre, pistol range, gymnasium, swimming pool, and motel-style accommodation for up to 450 trainees.
Although the official opening of the Queensland Police Academy was March 24, 1972, the first intake commenced seven weeks earlier.
Of the 142 students who made their way through the gate on February 1, 118 were men and 24 were women.
About half were first year cadets, up to 50 were second year cadets, and the remainder were third year cadets.
First and second year students studied Year 11 and 12 subjects for their matriculation, while third year cadets went straight into the formal police training.
At the tender age of 14 years and 11 months, retired Inspector Ralph Knust was one of those first year cadets. He said the new model was revolutionary, with a full suite of subjects delivered by high calibre lecturers.
“They needed a roster of staff to teach both the matriculation and police subjects, and they assembled a highly qualified and credentialled cohort of lecturers, both sworn and civilian,” Mr Knust said.
“Harry Allsopp was a highly regarded academic, author, and high school principal and he was enticed to lead the academy as Principal. He was sworn-in as an Inspector in his mid-40s to perform this role.
“His civilian background was balanced by an operational police officer, Inspector Frank Clifford, as Deputy Principal.
“The teaching staff included two reverends, and the training overall was underpinned by a developing culture of integrity, honesty and discipline,” Mr Knust said.
At the completion of their senior certificate, third-year cadets completed the final 12 months of training which specifically related to police work.
As well as police duties, law, administration, policing skills and self-defence training, topics included psychology, criminology and later, the emerging disciplines of leadership and management.
The cadet program ran in parallel with Probationary Training in which mature age applicants ranging from 19-35 years of age completed a condensed version of the third year training,
Around the same time, in-Service training was introduced, with sworn police receiving further specialist training or undergoing career development programs to progress to higher ranks.
Sworn-in in 1976, Mr Knust went on to enjoy a 38-year career with the QPS, working as an investigator throughout Queensland, leading the newly established Task Force Argos fighting child exploitation, and developing the new discipline of Incident Command Training after the shock of the 9/11 attacks in the US.
The police training system underwent several more changes over the ensuing 50 years, and by the early 80s, Year 11 and 12 subjects were no longer being taught at the academy.
Fifty years ago, the Official Opening of the Queensland Police Academy booklet noted the importance of being able to adapt to a changing environment:
The keynote of our society is change. Change in technology; change in social and moral attitudes; change in capacity to be aware of events in a world-wide setting; change in the density of urban settlement and consequent effects on human behaviour; and above all from the police officer’s point of view, change in the number of persons with the knowledge and capacity to participate in sophisticated and subtle crime against individuals and against the community.
These observations still ring true today, with change a constant feature in society, technology and the emerging capabilities and opportunities for criminals.
The QPS continues to adapt and innovate its training programs, with the $52.8 million Bob Atkinson Operational Capability Centre opened at Wacol in 2020 providing state-of-art world class facilities to support both recruit and in-Service training.
With the QPS actively recruiting applicants from a diverse range of backgrounds who are seeking purpose, direction and meaning from their careers, there’s never been a better time to join the QPS.
