Parklea Correctional Centre welcomed its third intake of trainees last week, further boosting officer ranks.
The 22 new recruits come from diverse employment and cultural backgrounds and range in age from 19 to 54. Ten are women and 12 are men.
Rajat Kaura, 53, is one of the new officers to join the team. His last role was flying the Care Flight helicopter, a skill he learned as a pilot with the Indian Air Force. After spending 20 years serving his birth country, he moved to Australia in 2013.
He was attracted to becoming an officer at Parklea as he’d always been in uniform roles and wanted to switch to a similar industry.
He said he enjoyed the training, even being gassed.
“Gassing was fun, but I’m glad it didn’t last long,” Rajat said.
“We need to go through that experience to understand how uncomfortable it can be.”
Rajat says he’s looking forward to the challenge of being a correctional officer and putting his previous experience with the air force and what’s he’s learned in the past 10 weeks to good use.
“I’d like to get into training or a supervisor role with my experience, but I’m looking forward to working on the floor first.”
The next Initial Training Course will start in March.
