Southern NSW blue line thickens with 24 new police as force welcomes biggest class in a decade

Southern NSW will receive the support of 24 more police officers across its region, after the NSW Police Force welcomed its biggest class in a decade.

A police spokesperson said a total of 298 new probationary constables from Class 364 attested at the NSW Police Academy late last week.

The probationary constables were then deployed to police stations across the state for their first day on the job on Monday (9 December).

Of these recruits, 24 will be joining the Southern region.

Lake Illawarra, Wollongong and the Murrumbidgee will host four each, while the Monaro, South Coast and the Hume will welcome three each, the Murray River will be boosted by two and the Riverina will get one.

Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism Yasmin Catley said the attestation of Class 364 was a monumental day for the police.

“Class 364 is the largest attesting class in a decade – overwhelming evidence the tide is turning on recruitment,” she said.

“Next year is set to be even bigger, with more than 1000 recruits attesting.

“We are focused on retaining experienced officers and recruiting new ones, which is why we’ve secured a historic pay deal, we’re paying recruits to train and offering recruits from the bush a pathway to work in or near their home town after attesting.”

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the attestation was a huge milestone for the recruits, who should be proud of their hard work over the past eight months.

“I am overjoyed at the size of Class 364 and congratulate not only our newest troops, but those within the organisation who made today happen,” she said.

“Recruitment has been a key focus of my team and seeing the biggest class in 10 years graduate from the academy is a major achievement in rebuilding our organisation.

“Not only that, our application numbers continue to rise, and I look forward to the even bigger classes set to graduate in 2025.”

In June 2024, the first class of trainee police officers paid to study was sworn in and joined the force.

The 169 probationary constables in class 362 were the first to attest having been fully paid to study as part of their training.

Of these, 18 started work in the Southern region, which includes South-East NSW. Four were on the South Coast, one in the Monaro, one in the Riverina, and two in the Hume.

Last month, it was announced that police officers in NSW would receive at least 22 per cent extra pay over the next four years in what the State Government called a “historic generational change”.

NSW Premier Chris Minns argued it was needed to curb the number of officers quitting the force.

He said the number of officers leaving the state’s police force had “more than doubled” in recent years, from more than 500 in 2018 to 1286 in 2022.

The pay increase led to accusations NSW was “actively poaching” officers from jurisdictions such as the ACT.

Then later in November 2024, the Australian Federal Police Association announced 52.05 per cent of its members voted in favour of an 11.2 per cent wage increase.