After giving 36 years of service to the South African Police Service, Fish Hoek Police Station branch commander Capt Scharl Basson (57) is looking forward to enjoying his golden years after he announced his retirement on Monday 31 March.
The police station held a special ceremony to bid their former chief farewell on Friday 28 March, where various staff expressed their heartfelt thanks for his contribution over the years.
Basson sat with People’s Post and walked us through his early years starting as a police officer in Franschhoek and his rise through the ranks.
“The thought of becoming a policeman has been a dream of mine since school days. I began my career as a police officer on 1 February 1989 in Franschhoek after matriculating. My involvement with the police started during my school years when I worked as a junior reservist and assisted with administrative tasks during holidays,” he recalls.
After he graduated from police college, Basson was stationed at Kirstenhof Police Station before moving to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Diep River in 1991 as a Lance Sergeant.
When Kirstenhof opened its own Criminal Investigation Department (CID) branch in 1992, I transferred back. Then I got married in 1993 and lived in Kuils River after I transferred to the Kuils River CID.
The following year he was transferred to the Wynberg Police Station’s CID, where he worked until 2017.
“I was then promoted to captain and started my tenure as the CID Branch Commander at Fish Hoek Police Station.”
As branch commander Basson recalls how he and his staff members battled to ensure residents felt safe in their areas despite having limited resources over the years.
“My greatest challenge would be coping with the amount of staff members we had. We initially started with 16 officers in the CID and then shrank down to nine. For example, the limited number of vehicles was always a challenge which hampered our investigations.”
The Fish Hoek Police Station also expressed their well wishes for Basson with People’s Post.
“We shall miss our Captain and yet we are happy that he gets to spend time with his family and enjoy the retirement so well deserved. We all are so proud of our Captain Basson and wish him all the best in what challenges he now gets to choose to enjoy. Fish Hoek police shall miss you and Fish Hoek Detectives will miss you even more,” said station commander Lt Col Belinda Gaffoor.
“For now, I’m just looking forward to embracing much-needed time with my wife and family and just relaxing. To serve the public and communities where I was stationed was always my first priority.”
