With 32 years of service, Col Umavathie Rameshwarnath brings a wealth of knowledge to her role as the newly appointed Lentegeur Police Station commander.
Col Ramesh, as she introduces herself, officially reported for duty on Wednesday 12 July.
Ramesh says the station management is implementing a plan of action, which was introduced before she had begun. In the first year of implementation, the three-year plan is focused on strengthening partnerships and trust.
“Our main focus is bridging the gap between the police and the public. We need to restore the public’s faith in the police. We do that by interacting with the community.
“We are now going out to the community with personal interactions with them,” she says.
These include planned street imbizos, walkabouts and pamphleteering on operational days around gender-based violence and domestic violence – a main focus at the station.
Awareness drives and discouraging anti-social behaviour – such as crime and gangsterism – is another focus included in this three-year plan.
Ramesh, who has worked at three police stations in Durban and six stations in Johannesburg, has also been the acting station commander at Lingelethu West, Harare, and Khayelitsha police stations in the Western Cape, before heading up the Lentegeur station.
“With the management itself at the station, we want to get the faith back. We are creating awareness and showing the community that they can create faith in us, again. We want to create a safe environment for everyone,” she says.
“When the police interact with communities and the community has faith in the police, then it has a ripple effect. When you have faith, you have more information coming in. We want to re-establish this again.”
While the community has publically expressed their concern and distrust in the police station, especially with the arrest of a police detective recently, station management says this is a good indication of a commitment to rebuilding this trust.
“The officer was arrested because of action from the station because we want to restore that faith, to show that when there are of our members who are corrupt, we will do what is required,” says the detective head of the serious and violent crimes division, Capt Morné Jackson.
Ramesh has issued a stern warning to any officer who may find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
“As the new station commander, I want to issue a stern warning to the members. We as the station will not tolerate corruption, therefore we need the public. They are our eyes and ears and we need them to come forward with information,” she says.
“I have an open-door policy. They can liaise directly with me. I will not stand for corruption.”
Ramesh joined the police due to her passion for making a difference, a passion she now brings to Lentegeur.
Ramesh says her first impression of the officers stationed at Lentegeur Police Station is that of dedication and passion.
“I see discipline and passion from the support environment to the working environment. I see the same passion I have in some of these officers and I aim to keep it there and spread it to others,” she says, adding that the work they are doing is remarkable.
The first community engagement will be held on Friday 25 August.
