Acting Sergeant Luke Lougoon is the first in his family to "join the job" but he always had the idea in the back of his mind.
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"There's a photo around of me in a police hat sitting on a police bike when I was around four or five," the 32-year-old said.
"My grandpa had a lot to do with Neighbourhood Watch. He was just part of the community and knew a few police officers."
But after finishing high school the teenaged Acting Sergeant Lougoon followed another aspiration, heading to the US to play professional basketball.
"I did a stint of nearly 12 months in the States. Then I came back and fell into a job as a bricklayer, and did an apprenticeship with that," he said.
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After seven years in the trade, with an eye to the future, he decided it was time to move on.
The choice of new career was between policing and teaching.
Victoria Police force's seven months' paid training decided the question.
"Being able to still have a decent wage coming in while learning what you've got to do" is "a pretty good carrot to dangle," Acting Sergeant Lougoon said.
Not to mention the pay rise he received in December 2017, when after 12 weeks at the Police Academy he was sworn in as a constable.
That gave the young family man a higher income than he had ever pulled in as a bricklayer, with the added benefit of nine weeks' paid leave.
The incentive of the high starting salary - which has now risen to $74,487 plus allowances - will be highlighted at an information session for potential Victoria Police recruits at the La Trobe Art Institute in Bendigo next Tuesday.
The event is part of a state-wide campaign to employ an extra 502 police and 50 protective services officers over two years, with police especially keen to see country people take up the opportunity and return to work in regional areas after training.
Following his graduation Acting Sergeant Lougoon spent three years in Shepparton, where he welcomed the chance to learn about policing in a more multicultural community.
The subsequent move back to Bendigo, where he was "born and bred", has been a positive one for the whole family, he says.
It has also been good for his career, with the young officer given the chance to perform a more supervisory role as acting sergeant and looking forward to an upcoming stint in an investigative capacity.
Acting Sergeant Lougoon acknowledges the job involves "a high pressure environment at times" but said there was plenty of support.
He enjoyed the "semi-country" feel of policing in Bendigo, he said, and in the short time he has been involved has made some lifelong friends.
"To anyone interested in joining I'd just say: Give it a go!" he said.
"Whether you're young or that little bit more mature, you can have that career change, and it's a career that offers a pretty decent wage, some decent benefits as far as holidays are concerned, plenty of areas you can branch off into, and the capacity to maintain work life balance as well as the opportunity to make a difference.
Acting Sergeant Lougoon plays footy these days rather than basketball and finds that shift work can at times work well with family life.
His grandpa, he says, was "always pretty interested in how it's all going".
Attendees have been asked to register online for the April 4 information session. Visit police.vic.gov.au/police for more information.
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