Episode 15 - Part I WAPOL

Today, we kick off the first episode of an 8-part series where I’ll be sharing my personal journey with the WA Police. In this episode, I’ll take you back to the beginning—what it took to get accepted into the force, the rigorous training at the academy, and the immense highs and lows that shaped my early career.

I’ll share the pride and excitement of stepping into the uniform for the first time, alongside the challenges and obstacles that came with the intense physical and mental demands of the training. But this chapter isn’t just about the achievements—it's also where I began to encounter workplace bullying, something that would test my resilience in ways I never expected. 

Join me as we dive into the early days of my policing career, setting the stage for the deeper conversation around strength, perseverance, and finding courage amidst the struggles. This series is about more than just my story—it’s about how we all navigate difficult experiences and come out stronger on the other side.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Everyday Warrior podcast where we talk free to break free. As someone who's been told they talk too much, can speak with a mouthful of marbles and might just be able to sell ice to Eskimos, I have found the perfect space to speak my truth and dive into deep conversations. This podcast is about celebrating everyday warriors, the people who face life's challenges head on, breaking through obstacles to build resilience, strength and courage. Join me, your host, Trudy Marie, as I sit down with inspiring individuals who have fought their own battles and emerged stronger, sharing raw, real and authentic stories that make you laugh, cry, debate, wonder, intrigue, feel all the emotions and get curious about life with. This is a safe space to explore, question and find your own path to new possibilities. Let us all embrace the warrior within and realise that while no one is walking in your shoes, others are on the same path, journeying through life together. Love the Everyday Warriors podcast? You can support the show for as little as$5 with a one-time donation or by becoming a monthly subscriber. Your contribution helps me continue bringing you inspiring stories of everyday warriors who overcome challenges to find strength, resilience and new possibilities in life. Head to the link to buy me a coffee and fuel the next episode. Every bit counts. I encourage you to pause the podcast and take a break. Remember that it is okay to prioritize your well-being and seek assistance from trained professionals. There is no shame in this. In fact, it is the first brave step to healing. If you require immediate support, please consider reaching out to Lifeline on 13 11 14 or a crisis intervention service in your area. Thank you for listening and please take care of yourself as you engage with the content of this podcast. Hello and welcome to another episode, actually the first solo episode of the Everyday Warriors podcast. This is going to be one of an eight part series as I talk about my time with WA Police. Now I've broken it down into a series so that I can really give enough time to each and every part of that journey. Part one, we're going right back to the beginning and why I became a police officer around the time I turned 40. In 2013, I completed the Landmark Forum, which is a personal development program. And during that time, I remembered as a young kid that I wanted to become a police officer. I was probably around 10 or 11 at the time in the town I grew up in of Cambelda, and we lived next door to police housing. So I can remember there was a senior Connie and his wife and his two kids, and he told me that being a police officer wasn't a job for a female. Now, in hindsight, I can look back on that and say he was just protecting an extremely young girl back in the 80s and it probably wasn't a job for a female in that kind of way. And he was really just protecting my innocence. But that particular statement made a huge, profound difference in the rest of my life because it was the beginning of my belief that I wasn't good enough for certain things. In that time, especially as a young adult, I watched a number of friends become police officers. In fact, I attended three march outs at the old Maylands Academy. And those particular friends and guys I went to school with are now inspectors. senior sergeants, detective sergeants, sergeants and senior Connie's. So they've had a wonderful 20 plus year career. And here's me deciding in my late 30s, early 40s that I was going to become a cop. For me, I was setting out to prove them or at least that particular senior Connie that he was wrong and that I was in fact capable of becoming a police officer. And I felt like I was ready. If I'd done this years prior, I don't think I would have been the same person going in. But with all my other life experiences, I felt like this was a culminating point. So my New Year's resolution, and let's be real, I don't normally make New Year's resolutions, but my New Year's resolution for 2015 was that I was going to join WA Police. Thank you so much. I also asked their permission and said, hey, this is something I really want to do for me. Do you have my back and will you support me on this journey? They were like, mum, go for it. And I think they were kind of proud and impressed at the same time but were fully supportive of me. So between the training and eating well and doing everything I needed to, I lost about 10 kilos, got super fit for me and then felt like I was ready to enroll. So it was around April, I attended a sort of seminar up at the Joondalup Academy, which was an introduction to working with WA Police. And at the end of that seminar, I submitted my application form and was like, right, this is it. This is the beginning of a new career for Trudy. So from there, I went into the qualification testing, including all the psych tests, the aptitude tests, any interviews. And I do remember the interview in particular, which they do after your psych test. And they go over a few things that may have come up in that particular test and I remember I got asked two questions in particular. The first I'd admitted to stealing before so I was obviously questioned about this and I said that at the time of growing up my parents owned a number of delis and there wasn't a time that me or one of my sisters didn't steal the occasional drink or ice cream or lolly or chocolate. It was part and parcel of being in our parents' deli. And the officer kind of laughed and went, yep, okay, I get it. Then I was asked to answer a question about do you think you're smarter than your boss, which I had answered yes to. And in many cases, if we're talking about smarts, because I have an IQ that is high, I cannot help but that in many cases I will in fact be, in IQ terms, smarter than my boss. But when it comes to actual learning, I know the difference between being a boss and being smart and actually learning what needs to be learned. So that kind of covered off those two questionable answers and that just really stood out to me in that process. So from there, I went on and did the physical test, which I passed and I was so relieved because back in the day, and I know the testing has changed with WA Police, but there was a set time that you had to do for the beep test. And every time I practiced on my own, I struggled to get to that mark. And I was like, I just need to do it to pass. So when I actually did the physical and got through, I was just so relieved. And then I was like, you know what? I've got this. I can actually do this. So it was very soon after that because WA police were going through a period where they were out to employ a larger number of women to increase work. That contingency within the agency and also because it was 100 years of women in police. So there was this thing around employing more female officers. So I was actually recalled for a requalification very early after passing the initial physical because normally you had to wait a few months. And I was devastated because during the beep test in that particular recall, I tore my meniscus. And this meant that I had to be back squatted. So it wasn't a no, it was a no for now. And this was around the September of 2015. So pretty much about nine months since I'd started training at about five months, six months since I'd actually applied. And now I was like, fuck, how am I actually going to do this? How am I going to get back to the physical fitness that I need to pass this? But the thing is, I did. I trained my ass off once I was allowed to train again. And I think it was around February of 2016 that I went for my requal again. And this time I made it. And I remember crying as I was handed my letter at the end of that recall saying, this is the date you're ready to start. So I started at the Academy on the 18th of April, 2016. And the one thing that's really significant around that time is that I'd been dating a guy for about six months. And that particular week of me getting into the Academy, he actually sent me a text message saying he no longer wanted to date me because he didn't want his female partner to be a police officer. And I really felt at that time it was like I was being given an ultimatum, him or the job. And I was like, catch ya. I trained my ass off to be a police officer and I wasn't going to change for him. And the funny thing was, is that he'd known the whole time we'd been dating is this is what I was working towards. And I think that even though he knew it, he didn't really believe it. So I started at the Academy a little heartbroken, the single mum of two kids, but just believing that I was going to do whatever it took to get through the Academy. And let me tell you, the Academy is bloody tough. Added to that, the week before starting the Academy, I'd had a mild chest infection and I didn't report it because I didn't want to be back squatted again. However, I relapsed week one of the Academy and one of our very first PT sessions, I had a major asthma attack, which required medication. My doctor didn't want me doing full PT in that first week of the academy. So you can imagine how that went down with other instructors and fellow members of my squad. I'd also had some ankle issues and this was a result of wearing stilettos over the past 20 years for my corporate jobs. Going from a stiletto into a boot meant that my ankle muscles had to stretch after being tightened into that shorter position over the last few years and I was suffering some severe ankle strain. So with the assistance of my physio and my chiro, I was required to wear lifts in my boot for the entire time at the academy and even initially when I started work. I think it took around, oh, it was between nine and 12 months for me to actually have no lifts in my boot. And that was just another issue I had to contend with. However, I worked really hard on all the other stuff and got really good grades. I was always getting in the 90 mark, maybe the high 80s, but predominantly above 90%. Now, this wasn't uncommon for me because I'd always been a high achiever at school. A lot of the academic administrative work came really easy to me. But that's where the bullying started. If I wasn't already challenged for my weaknesses with my injuries, I was now also being attacked for my smarts. So I had a bit of a chat with our squad mentor. And in a squad of about 30 people of various ages, I was one of the oldest females, like about to turn 40. And the youngest person was around 19, I think from memory. So I told my mentor what was happening and instead of addressing the issue like I believe he could have, he literally outed me to the squad in a way that just made everything worse. And I remember standing in the middle of this room and having this bullying and harassment policy like placed all over our desks and everyone in the room stood there and looked at me, basically blaming me for reporting it. And I said, yeah. I did report it because we're about to go into our tactical training and I don't believe here that anyone has my back or anybody else's back for that matter. Because let's be real, you all bitch and talk about each other behind each other's backs. And no one seems to like give a shit. And it's probably the hardest part of the whole academy doing the tactical training. So I wanted to know that other people were going to look after me and look out for me during that time. So that was another difficult thing to go through. But when our squad went through that tactical training, we were told that we were one of the strongest squads to ever go through as an entire group in recent years. But do you think anybody helped me go through that tactical training and support me? No. Now, our squad had an unusual number of females in the squad. So as you can imagine, when females are going through some stressful times and go through some shit, there's a lot of tears, a lot of crying, lots of hugging, lots of supporting, but not to me. Like literally, I felt like I had to do tactical training all on my own. And not only was I going through the hardest part of the academy, feeling like I was on my own, I was going home to my two teenage children, not being able to converse with them, not being able to get the support from a partner or loved one at home. So it was fucking tough, like one of the toughest parts of the whole academy. And one thing I will remember from tactical training is Actually, there's two. The first one is that the first day of tactical training, you go on what they call like an army stores or supplies run. Like you're carrying all this stuff such as tires and sandbags and replica rifles and stretchers with a dummy and so on. And you have to operate as a squad. And then you have these instructors yelling in your ear, all these different demands. I remember it pissing down with rain. It was so cold. And I remember distinctly one of the instructors telling us to drop and do push ups on his cadence. And by cadence, I mean his timing. And I remember doing that in the middle of the bloody road. And I was like, how am I going to do this? Like, what have I gotten myself in for? And then to make matters worse, we finished up that stores run over on the hockey oval at the local university, or it was a soccer field, I think. And we had to do burpee leapfrogs across the oval, practically in the mud. And I was in white squad, so our shirts were white. And I was like, I did not sign up for this. This is way tougher than what I expected. But you know what? I got through it anyway. And I was so proud of myself. Like, I don't know how, because it took every little part of me to get through that. But I knew it wasn't going to defeat me. The other thing I remember is actually going into the shooting range for the first time. and discovering that I was actually a really good shot from close up. Now, I can't shoot for shit over long distance, but up close, I was pretty bloody accurate. But I was also bullied for being left-handed and like you're singled out. Yeah, I get that it's part of being a safety issue because you're shooting with the other hand and you need to look out for those right-handers. But the way I was treated and the way I was spoken to by certain instructors during that tactical training, whether it was with a firearm, with my taser, with cuffs, whatever the case may be, I was always singled out for being left-handed and told I was doing things wrong. I wasn't doing it wrong, I was just doing it with the other hand. And that was tough because I didn't have any support from my fellow squad members. I was one of the only females who also passed everything in that tactical training first go. So there are a number of different drills that you have to go through in tactical training and you have to pass all of them. Some of the drills you get multiple attempts at, but I didn't have to second attempt anything. I got through on the first go on my own. And I just put that down to my strength, my courage, my perseverance, and just my willingness not to give up. Like this was my life that I was working for. And my mantra throughout the academy was, I am strong, I am powerful, and I can do this. And I kept saying that over and over and over. And you know what? I still say it. And I even said it when I was on the bib track because nothing was going to stop me. I was also told by other people in my squad that potentially I would be only good at inquiry work. WA Police was divided into two divisions. You either worked on an inquiry team or you worked in the response team. And the response team was those first responders out on the job. And then the inquiry team would follow up on those jobs the next day, following up with things like videos and statements and things like that. So I could already see that my squad were putting me into a box of who I They thought I would be and never actually accepted me for what I could do. And I remember distinctly like when we did our... kind of practical work where you go out to a station for a couple of days or you go we used to participate in an operation called night safe where you'd go into the Perth police station on a Friday and Saturday night and you would help deal with the city party centre and I remember when I went in on the first Friday night a sergeant came in and called for some volunteers and I immediately put up my hand like I've got I've got nothing to lose and I remember like being out with a different sergeant and a first class officer and in the car with them actually working as one of the patrol cars. And I was super excited about this because I was like, yay, I don't have to walk around Northbridge dealing with drunken idiots. I actually get to go and do real police work. And one of the first jobs we had to attend was an assault at Perth train station. And I remember sitting there writing a field statement and thought to myself, wow, I'm really being thrown in the deep end here. And, you know, the sergeant and the first guy is standing there watching me, I felt under extreme pressure dealing with this victim as I took her statement in the middle of the train station but I got that done sorted all that out and you know we went to a couple of other minor jobs on the night but that was like a real first go where yeah I'm on the job and I'm doing this thing so at the end of the night that was fine the next night we went in I should have actually been on night safe again but I run into the sergeant that I'd worked with the night before and I said to him how was that victim did She provide extra information, extra photos the next day, because we presume she was going to have a black eye, which would increase the offence. And he said, oh, are you back in here tonight? And I said, yes, I am. So he went to the duty sergeant and said, look, I'm taking this probie with me. So I went back out with him and the same first class officer and started working with them again for the evening. Now, when we went in for crib, I didn't realize this when I started the shift but the sergeant actually went home for a family situation so he'd taken toil and I was out with the first class officer on my own so it was just us in a car for the rest of the night and we end up attending a brawl at a nightclub we end up going to a hot berg and a couple of other jobs for the rest of the shift and I remember when I got back at the end of the night the rest of my squad said like where were you tonight night and I said I was working and they're like what do you mean and I said well I went out with the same guys I went out with last night and I ended up being you know one up in a car or like two up in a car with just me and the other officer and let me tell you my squad were pissed that I actually got to do real police work and not just be walking around night safe like pretend like protecting other party goers and revelers and drunken idiots so I It was kind of like me proving the point that, no, I wasn't just cut out to do inquiry work. I could actually do the response work.

UNKNOWN: 22:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 22:22

But the other thing that I could see that was happening within the academy was it was like schoolyard Chinese whispers. And I swore like, were we dealing with a bunch of adults about to become police officers or were we back in high school again? It was crazy. I remember somebody coming to me to talk about things that I may have said or done within the academy. like the squad and this person was like I just want to ask on behalf of these other people and I said unless those people want to come and say it to my face like we're all adults here they can all fuck off because I seriously don't want to know we're all about to become police officers and we don't need to do this whole Chinese whispers schoolyard bullying like seriously so that kind of changed my interactions with a few people within my squad Because I just wasn't ready to take the bullshit. So training at the academy continued on. And then we came to a major legal exam towards the end. So most of our legal work was actually done at the beginning. But as we went through all the other components, we had to kind of culminate it all into this final legal exam. But the weekend before that exam, I think that exam was on the Monday or Tuesday, I found out that my mum had been diagnosed with breast cancer and because of that would also not be making it to my graduation. So you can imagine how I must have felt. Like, I was devastated. I was heartbroken. And I was like, fuck, how am I going to do this? Like, how am I going to even concentrate at the academy studying breast but then also be there for my mum and also deal with this news that I'd just been like, you know, told. But I started to persevere and I kept going anyway. I ended up failing that legal exam. And because I'd been getting like high 80s, majority 90s in all my work, I had one of the instructors come to me and say, What happened, Trudy? Like, how did you fail this exam? And I said to them, I'll tell you honestly that the weekend before the exam, I found out my mum got diagnosed with breast cancer. And they said, like, why didn't you tell us? Like, we could have... like helped you out. We could have had you sit it at a later time. We could have given you some assistance. And I said, what? And deal with the bullshit from my squad for getting special attention? Not a chance. So I ended up having to reset the exam along with a bunch of other people who also failed said exam. I wasn't the only one. But I managed to repass it. And then as a result, I think because of that particular failure, I ended up going through and graduating without any major awards, which was a pretty much a first for me in my entire life because I was always that high achiever. But this was the first time in my life that I was just satisfied for making it through. Because the police academy, that 28 weeks, was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life. And let me tell you, marching out on the 30th of October 2016 was one of the proudest days of my life. I will never forget that memory or that feeling. I had my dad and step-mom in the crowd. I had my three sisters, one of who had my mum on FaceTime from Queensland so she could at least watch from a distance. Both my kids were there with one of my nieces and one of my besties who was a sergeant and I'd been at her marching out parade. She was there to support me and cheer me on as well. And I graduated as a WA pilot officer. I felt like I had finally fulfilled my dream that I had overcome some bloody major hurdles and adversities throughout that period and to actually achieve something I'd set out to do. Like I can't even put into words what that felt like and what that time period was like. It all went by in such a blur and such a flurry but those small moments I look back and think wow I I actually did that. And with one of my highest values being integrity, to actually set yourself out to do something, say you're going to do it, but then actually achieve doing it is such an incredible feeling. So that is a very short recap of my time preparing to enter the academy, making it into WA Police and then training at the academy. It was... an incredible period of my life and one that I am truly grateful even to this day because I got to discover a part of myself I didn't know existed. And that was the beginning of the rest of my time within WA Police. Thank you for tuning in to the Everyday Warriors podcast. If you have an idea for a future episode or a story you'd like to share yourself, then please message me as I am always up for real, raw or authentic conversations with other everyday warriors if you love what you are hearing please be sure to subscribe and hear all the latest episodes and spread word to your family friends and colleagues so they can listen in too If you are sharing on social media, please be sure to tag me at underscore Trudy underscore Marie underscore so I can personally acknowledge you. I am always open to comment about how these episodes have resonated with you, the listener. It would also mean the world to me if you were to leave a five star review to ensure that the Everyday Warrior podcast is heard by more listeners around the world. And remember... Lead with love as you live this one wild and precious life.