Promising changes in police

GEORGE NEWS - Some promising changes have been made at local police stations in George recently.

Thembalethu Police welcomed their new station commander, Col Mteto Ronald Sapepa, and former Pacaltsdorp detective, Lt Col Henry Benn, will be heading the detectives as branch commander at the same station.

Both these officers are forces to be reckoned with, bringing their own set of expertise and experience to the table.

George police station has become the new home for Capt Alicéa Louw, who joined the station as the new communications officer in December last year.

Her focus will be on internal and external communication, engaging with the community and team building among her colleagues.

Communications officer

With no shortage of experience, Louw has been in the police force for the most part of her life. She joined the police freshly out of school 31 years ago when she started her career in Bloemfontein in 1991.

However, the Free State cold eventually got the better of her and she decided to move to the Cape where she worked in the Paarl and Boland areas in the crime intelligence analysis unit. From 2008 to 2013 she joined the police management information centre in Stellenbosch before she moved to join the Eden Cluster finance department in George.

New at Thembalethu

Colonel Sapepa joined the police in 1990 in the human resources department after which he took position in Hermanus until 2004. Here he spent time in the visible policing unit (Vispol) and was also an officer in community service.

For the next seven years he was stationed in Stanford after which he joined Pacaltsdorp Police as station commander from 2012 to 2015. He was then transferred to Thembalethu police station as the head of Vispol before he became station commander in February this year.

His focus is currently on regaining the trust of the community, eradicating the illegal alcohol and drug trade, and removing dangerous weapons from the streets of Thembalethu.

"With the help of the community and more witnesses coming forward, more suspects will be brought to book," he said.

Another thorn in the side of Thembalethu Police is the infrastructure in parts of the informal settlements. "The infrastructure in some areas makes it very difficult for patrol vehicles to move around. Ambulances also struggle to get in and out," said Sapepa.

Lt Col Benn's policing career started in 1986 at the George police station. The following year he joined the Vispol unit, and two years later he was transferred to Uniondale. In 2004 he became part of the Uniondale detectives after which he was transferred back to Pacaltsdorp in the same unit where he has been since.

He took position as branch commander of the Thembalethu detectives on 1 February this year.

Benn's priority is the safety of the community he serves and giving complainants proper feedback on their cases.

"We need to ensure the safety of the Thembalethu community and one of the ways to accomplish that is to make sure we investigate each case thoroughly, get it to court and ensure prosecution. We need to work, and we need to work hard. We need to make examples of those who do others wrong and win back the trust of the community," he said.