The Dubbo woman knew she wanted to take a proactive role in helping Indigenous children turn away from crime but wasn’t sure how the course would help her.

When she graduated on Friday at TAFE Western’s Dubbo Campus, she described participating in the Indigenous Police Recruitment Our Way Delivery as one of the best decisions she had ever made.

Ms Kilby has seen what has been happening to young Indigenous people in Dubbo and said that encouraged her to get involved.

“I want to work with the youth here in Dubbo and try and make a change, help the kids to not go down a bad path,” she said.

“I grew up a bit rough in West Dubbo when I was younger, I saw a lot of the crime life, drug life and I didn’t want to follow that. I wanted to change and I wanted to help other people change.”

Ms Kilby was one of 19 students who became the latest graduates from the highly successful IPROWD course.

In nine years the program has allowed almost 100 students to become serving police officers, while another 450 have gone on to do further studies or gain employment helping others in the community.

The course has the ability to change lives, Ms Kilby said

“I didn’t fully understand what this course was, I thought I’d just come to TAFE, do my work and go home. I didn’t realise how much there was in it and everybody we would meet,” she said.

“I didn’t know to to write an essay before I started this. I left school at year 9 but know I have come through and completed this.

“It’s been amazing. It’s an incredible support network and I’ve met beautiful people, made brothers and sisters for life.”

The majority of graduates will now go on to do a five-week course through Charles Sturt University that is mandatory for prospective police cadets.

IPROWD co-ordinator for Dubbo Kylie Giusti said TAFE Western was extremely proud of the graduates and said the ceremony was a highlight of the year.

“It’s a very exciting day. It’s exciting to see them progress and utilise that pathway to the police. It always empowers and inspires the next group to come forward,” Ms Giusti said.

“We have had some outstanding students come through in the past and they have progressed into the police force, and that is the main focus but they can also go on to further study.”

Ms Kilby said she would recommend the IPROWD course to any Indigenous person who wanted to make a difference.