Ben had dreams of being in the military and being commando, so when he joined the NSW Police, he wasn’t going to be happy staying in General Duties. But the first requirement of the TOU is time as a General Duties Constable, and Ben did much of his work in Sydney’s Bankstown.

TOU selection is considered almost impossible: 200 show interest, down to 44 who qualify to do the week-long “hell camp”, and then 14 make it through, of which 10 are selected. Ben’s description of the hell camp surely won’t raise anyone’s expectations of surviving it.