The Police Abridged Competency Education (PACE) Program is for applicants who are either current serving or have previous frontline policing experience within the last 5 years. This program is a separate intake at the academy that runs for 18 weeks. Officers will commence in the First Year Constable (FYC) Program. However, officers with interstate and international policing experience may be afforded the opportunity to apply for early exit from the FYC Program.

To be eligible for the PACE Program you need to meet all of the following criteria:

• Current or recently resigned police officer
• Minimum of 2 years policing experience
• Maximum of 5 years since resigning
• Years of operational policing experience is greater than years since resigning.

Please note: Your suitability for the program will be determined during the application process.

Interstate and overseas recruit applicants who are serving or recently serving police officers may be eligible to receive a pay which is greater than standard recruits. This could be over $4,000 per fortnight as a recruit, and approximately $130k per annum as a First Year Constable. For more information, refer to the current QPS Certified Agreement. 

These applicants may also be eligible to receive a $20,000 incentive payment. Payments will be made to eligible applicants in two $10,000 instalments – the first on graduation from recruit training and the second when the officer has successfully completed both the First Year Constable Programme and the probationary period (at least 12 months). This initiative will be available to a maximum of 1000 applicants with recognised interstate or international policing experience.

Applications are submitted immediately before graduation in accordance with the ‘Police Recruit Incentive Policy’ (2023/06).

For personnel with police service from another Australian police jurisdiction(s), all combined service will be considered towards three Service Medals:

• National Medal – usually awarded after combined period of 15 sworn years and a clasp every subsequent 10 years
• National Police Service Medal – usually awarded after a combined period of 15 sworn years – this medal has no subsequent clasps
• Queensland Police Service Medal – usually awarded after 10 Years of service in the QPs with a clasp every 5 years however can include service from another Australian police jurisdiction if that service was less than 10 years and the member did not receive the 10-year equivalent service medal from their previous Australian police jurisdiction (all have a 10-year medal similar to the QPSM). 

Your policing service is recognised through allocation of a higher pay point than that of a mainstream recruit applicant. The pay point is assessed based on the QPS Certified Agreement, having regard to the recency and relevance of your policing service.

You may be paid at your determined pay point from the date of your commencement at the academy as a recruit.

Certified Agreement

The pay point is assessed based on the QPS Certified Agreement, having regard to the recency and relevance of your policing service. This agreement includes the base salary rates. An Operational Shift Allowance (OSA) of 21% of an employee's base salary will be paid to employees in operational shift positions who equitably participate in operational shift rosters.

The pay level will consider a range of factors including, but not limited to, length of policing service, relevancy and type of policing experience, recency of policing service and rank. For example and subject to these factors, a current police officer in another jurisdiction with 6 years policing experience may be eligible for Senior Constable pay level 2.2 while completing the recruit training.

At the determination of the Commissioner, officers with interstate or international policing experience may be appointed to the QPS as a constable or senior constable at a level commensurate with their experience. 

You will attain Senior Constable rank after completing the 12-month probation period and having your appointment confirmed. 

This is achieved in accordance with section 13(2) of the Queensland Police Service Certified Agreement 2022. To be eligible to progress from Constable to Senior Constable, the Officer must meet the following requirements:

• Completion of 12 months service on paypoint 1.5
• Completion of satisfactory performance reports (DAP) and
• Completion of compulsory training requirements for the preceding financial year.

When you are appointed into a substantive plain clothes position in the QPS, you need to apply to the Detective Training section for an RPL from the program. You can then apply to the Detective Application Board to be appointed a Detective in the QPS.

Applicants with previous Australian police service, service with Queensland Government Departments, Commonwealth of Australia or Australian State and Territory Government Departments, and some other Australian government authorities, may be eligible to have this service recognised for long service leave and sick leave purposes, once appointed as a police officer. 

Terms of recognition apply, including: 

• you must not have had a break in service with a recognised employer of more than 12 months 
• liability will not be accepted for long service leave balances where a cash entitlement has been paid to you 
• limitations apply in the case of sick leave credits in line with current entitlements for Queensland police officers. 

As you are undertaking a temporary contract as a QPS recruit, all recreation leave and loading from your previous jurisdiction is to be paid out when you resign. 

Location allocation is dependent on the operational requirements of the QPS at the time of offer. All applicants are given the opportunity to provide reasons as to why they require a specific district. You will find out your allocated district upon offer before commencement at the academy, as part of your ‘Letter of Offer’. 

Note: Sunshine Coast District is not available for posting.