South Australia Police
See yourself in the uniform recruitment campaign
Police officer testimonial - Natasha
This page is a transcript of the video testimonial of Natasha, a police officer with South Australia Police. Natasha talks about her police career as a Crime Scene Investigator.
[Close up vision of Natasha progressively putting the finishing touches on her uniform, starting with lacing up her work boots]
When I was going through school I didn’t know
exactly where I wanted to be, I was looking at the police
or the Defence Force. I pursued policing
[Close up vision of Natasha doing up the top buttons of her dark blue police shirt, her belt and placing a pen in the shirt pocket, under the words Crime Scene Investigator]
and they told me potentially I might be too young. So I went and studied
Conservation Park Management at uni. I then worked
as a park ranger for a period and I still
wanted to be a police officer, so I applied.
[Natasha, in casual clothes, talking to camera in a studio]
After I finished at the Academy I really enjoyed my time on general patrols.
And from there I had an interest in the forensic area.
[Vision of Natasha on the job as a Crime Scene Investigator, taking photos at a crime scene]
I liked photography and I could develop those skills so that was an outside interest
for me.
[Natasha, in casual clothes, talking to camera in a studio]
The first full weeks of study was for crime visitation
and that’s just attending house break and stolen cars.
Then the second level which was offered was the crime scene investigation
[Vision of Natasha and a colleague on the job as Crime Scene Investigators, using high tech equipment and collecting evidence at a crime scene]
and then there was on the job training with that and mentoring.
The third level where I am now is the forensic response section.
Now I'm being trained in blood pattern analysis
and we’re predominantly involved with major
crime incidents. There is no such thing as a typical shift.
[Natasha, in casual clothes, talking to camera in a studio]
I might travel down to the vehicle compound and
[Close up vision of Natasha, in her police uniform, getting her camera out of her equipment bag and assembling it for use]
examine a vehicle and I might be in the middle of
packaging exhibits from a crime scene and we’d get a phone call saying there’s a
homicide in
[Natasha, in casual clothes, talking to camera in a studio]
Mount Gambier, so you know, we pack up our bags and fly to Mount Gambier and might not be home for a day or two.
It’s quite a unique environment
and the people that I work with, we can be in quite demanding and
stressful situations every now and then.
I’ve had phone calls after work when we’ve been to stressful jobs.
Later on you just don’t know how you’re probably going to react so it’s just nice to have someone ring up
and say
how are you.
[Vision of Natasha on the job as a Crime Scene Investigator, compiling a computer composite image of a suspect’s face with a member of the public]
There are so many areas within SAPOL that you can work and it’s widely accepted
that within your time you will
do many roles. I was on patrols for five years and then the
opportunity arose for me to complete the crime scene course
and so I went in that direction. You’re always going to start on patrols,
[Natasha, in casual clothes, talking to camera in a studio]
Where you go from there just depends on you.
[Extreme close up vision of Natasha using the camera]
[Still shot of Natasha in uniform looking into camera and two strips of thin yellow tape appearing on the screen with words See yourself in the uniform and achievemore.com.au]
[Natasha’s still shot fades to a dark background with police lights appearing behind the yellow tape. The South Australia Police logo and the Government of South Australia logo appears]
[Male voice over]
Do you already have what it takes? See yourself in the uniform