Potential police recruits in the North and North-West will no longer have to travel South to train to join the force.
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The option of a Launceston-based recruit course was announced on Tuesday, and Tasmania Police Assistant Commissioner Adrian Bodnar said the hope was it would see northern based recruits more keen to sign up.
Without a northern-based option, recruits had to travel to Rokeby in the state's far south for the intensive 31-week training course which Assistant Commissioner Bodnar said was likely to have deterred some applicants.
Constable Kelly Donaldson, who went through the training in 2017 and had to leave three children at home while she did so, said the change would make it easier to balance work and family life.
"Being able to come home, to have an evening with your family who really need you in their lives is really important," she said.
Coming home on the weekends is great, but being home at the end of the day to support your family and what they're going through is important as well.
- Tasmania Police Constable Kelly Donaldson
The pilot program was set to kick off from April 25 and was expected to have the capacity for at least 15 northern-based applicants.
Assistant Commissioner Bodnar said applications for the program could come in immediately.
He said the plan was for recruits attracted to the program from Launceston, and North-West areas, would then be posted back into the areas they lived.
"Whether that be through the Burnie Police Station, the Devonport Police Station or the Launceston Police Station, it's designed to attract people from the area that want to stay and live there," Assistant Commissioner Bodnar said.
He said the reasoning was due to anecdotal information indicating the change to the recruitment model would bring more people into the police force.
While the exact logistics of what a training facility in Launceston would look like were yet to be nutted out, there was belief an ongoing partnership between the University of Tasmania and Tasmania Police could be the key.
Assistant Commissioner Bodnar said the university's Newnham campus had been brought up in discussions.
As part of the pilot, a Sergeant and Constable would be based in Launceston and dedicated to an "Academy course".
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