Meet the newest officer to join Laidley’s beat

Being a cop isn’t like TV shows or movies where you’re always running around chasing bad guys, Laidley’s newest recruit says.

NEW COP: Laidley Police’s newest police recruit, Joseph Brayshaw. Photo: Ebony Graveur

THE idea of becoming a cop first came to him when he was just five or six years old.

Now, at 23, Joseph Brayshaw is Laidley Police Station’s newest recruit.

Constable Brayshaw, from Brisbane, used to dream about becoming a professional football player when he was a child.

But with both his parents working in the emergency services sector he was inspired to explore other ideas.

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“I was aways living around that kind of life but Mum and Dad were a nurse and paramedic and I wasn’t really interested in the medical stuff,” he said.

“I always thought about becoming a police officer … (I wanted) to make a difference to people’s lives.”

When he first heard back from the Queensland Police Service about his application, he was invited to complete an online quiz.

“Then you complete a literacy and numeracy test, psychological testing, physical testing and the actual job interview,” he said.

Constable Brayshaw submitted his application in December 2018, and more than a year later began his training at the police academy.

“I got a call in October in 2019, asking me to start in January,” he said.

“I was helping my mate move house at the time so I was running around yelling out and letting everyone know.”

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With only pop culture and movies to go by, Constable Brayshaw wasn’t sure what to expect from the role.

So far, it seems more relaxed than he expected.

“I didn’t know any police when I joined, so I didn’t really know anything about the job,” Joseph said.

“When you watch the shows on TV it looks real full on and you’re always running around, chasing bad guys, but there is a lot of other stuff that goes into it.”

Read more stories by Ebony Graveur.

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