Officer in Charge of Innisfail Police, Senior Sgt Williamson and Officer in Charge of Innisfail Fire Station Kevin Walsh with students from Innisfail State College who have successfully completed the work experience program.
Officers from Innisfail Police and the Innisfail Queensland Fire and Rescue Service attended at the Innisfail State College on Monday October 27 to recognise the ongoing partnership between the schools of the Innisfail area and the local emergency services. Since 2013 local high school students have attended the local Police, Fire and Ambulance stations to undertake work experience placements.
The program aims to provide the students with exposure to the three organisations instead of the traditional one week at only one organisation. The students get to experience a variety of roles including a day at the Innisfail Police, Fire and Ambulance stations as well as a visit to the Cairns Water Police, the Cairns Emergency Management Queensland Operations Centre and the Innisfail PCYC.
The aim of the program is to allow the students to get a feel for the particulars roles within the emergency services which provides them with a better understanding of what each service offers.
Good Counsel School Captains with QPS 150 books presented to the school library.
Innisfail Police Officer in Charge, Senior Sergeant Peter Williamson and Innisfail Fire and Rescue Service Station Officer, Kevin Walsh presented the students with a number of keepsakes including the book, 150years in Qld Policing.
Senior Sergeant Williamson said ‘It was identified in 2013, that due to recent disasters (Cyclones Larry 2006 & Yasi 2011) which had impacted the Cassowary Coast, that employment prospects in the area had decreased, which also impacted on the options for work experience placements for school students in the Innisfail and surrounding area. Some students who had come into contact with Police, had been overheard mentioning that all they have to look forward to in the Innisfail area is labouring on local farms. As a result Emergency Service personnel from the Innisfail area met with representatives from local secondary schools and developed the ‘Joint emergency services work experience’ project, where students with an interest in emergency service work, performed work experience at each emergency service provider over a period of a week. To date students from Babinda State High School, Innisfail State College, Good Counsel College and one student from Trinity Anglican in Cairns has undertaken the work experience opportunity’.
