By Aneeka Simonis
MORE than a dozen south Sudanese people from the Pakenham area are expected to attend a Victoria Police recruitment event.
The interest follows an initiative by Pakenham police Senior Sergeant Graeme Stanley who flagged his intention provide the South Sudanese community with information about jobs in law-enforcement in the Cardinia shire, Casey and Greater Dandenong area.
He had recruitment brochures made up in different languages and provided some to South Sudanese community representative Riak Kiir who is working on uniting his culture group with the wider Pakenham community.
He said 13 people, mostly men, have expressed interest in joining Victoria Police, and said they will go to the information night in Dandenong from 6.30pm on Wednesday 12 October.
“Some of them are really interested to join,” Mr Kiir said.
Recent disunity and cultural difference forming in the Pakenham and wider south-eastern area sparked Mr Kiir’s appointment as Pakenham Uniting Church’s Community Development Worker a few months ago.
He is tasked with trying to form the area’s very first South Sudanese community group, and developing strategies to help integrate members into the wider Cardinia shire community.
He’s working together with police, state and local government to forge the changes.
Engagement is one of the key strategies.
“I will do a lot for young south Sudanese,” he said.
“When they see one of their own working as a policeman or policewoman, I think they will respect them and know they are part of that community,” Mr Kiir said.
Sen Sgt Stanley said he does not think there are any South Sudanese police officers in Victoria.
The recruitment call-out is hoped to both help young Sudanese people build a career as well as provide local police with a direct link to the South Sudanese community, and possibly educate officers about their culture.
He said the event will outline the application process, required qualifications and training.
“There may be some people who may not fully understand the application so it’ll be an opportunity for them to ask questions and we can outline minimum qualifications … academic and physical,” Sen Sgt Stanley said.
He said recruit-hopefuls may be given a specific police contact throughout the entire recruitment process, possibly assisting with language comprehension, but will be made to complete the same criteria as non-South Sudanese recruits.
Shadow Minister for Police Edward O’Donohue said he intended to speak to major employers including Coles and Woolworths about the prospect of employing young Sudanese residents to help get them engaged with the workforce and broader community.
The police recruitment event will be held at the Greater Dandenong City Council Building at 225 Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, from 6.30pm until 8.30pm on Wednesday 12 October.
All culture groups are welcome to attend.
To reserve a seat, contact culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) Recruiting Project Officer John Chau on 9247 5232 or email john.chau@police.vic.gov.au.
