THE Queensland Police Service has welcomed 122 recruits at the final graduation ceremony of 2024, rounding out a record-breaking year for recruitment.
More than 940 officers have now been inducted, with more than 2200 applicants still in the pipeline heading into the new year – a 53% increase on November 2023.
The twilight graduation wrapped up a massive year for the QPS academies, which inducted the largest number of recruits in 26 years back in May, and just recently recorded the largest number of recruits in training across Brisbane and Townville.
The intake includes nine new recruits for Ipswich to be deployed to Goodna (3), Ipswich (2), Karana Downs (1), Springfield (1) and Yamanto (1).
CRIME STOPPERS FOCUS ON ANIMAL KEEPING
A QUEENSLAND woman was recently arrested and fined more than $20,000 for illegally keeping and selling 26 reptiles and 18 eggs, including turtles, bearded dragons, pythons and blue tongue lizards.
It is suspected that some of the animals were acquired through the black market or taken directly from the wild.
Now, Crime Stoppers Queensland is encouraging the community to keep an eye out for suspicious activity that could indicate that someone may be keeping, importing or trading native and exotic animals illegally.
The illegal animal trade is a much larger problem than some may think, said CEO of Crime Stoppers Queensland, David Hansen.
“This trade can have a wide range of impacts from the mistreatment of animals and damage to biodiversity,” he said.
