The office is small, neat and there is a white fan blowing over his left shoulder.
This is the office where award-winning policeman Det Capt Alie van den Berg works tirelessly to secure his next conviction.
Seated at his desk (which contained a pile of dockets), he said that people often try to contact him at work, only to find he is not in the office.
When people reach him on his cellphone and ask where he is, he tells them if he could investigate a murder from his desk, he would.
The 47-year-old commander of the Crystal Park SAPS detective branch said he is not an office man – he prefers working in the field as often as possible.
After being in the service for over 20 years, van den Berg said he was born to be a cop, and enjoys his work environment.
“I enjoy the diversity; every day is different,” he said.
“I am not an office person, if you ask me.
“I don’t like being behind the table, I like to work outside with the members.
“I will do my work (in the office), but then I go out with the members.”
His lengthy career in the police force has earned him the Detective of the Year award in 2002, and two monetary awards (a total of R25 000) — just some of the recognition he has received.
Capt van den Berg’s hard work and dedication to the police service was again highlighted with a certificate of appreciation from the Crystal Park Community Policing Forum (CPF).
The CPF presented him with a certificate for outstanding performance and lasting contribution to the Crystal Park CPF, on February 11.
Van den Berg was born in Benoni in 1967.
Before joining the police, he had spent two years in the army and six and a half years on the mines.
He then decided to join the SAPS and studied a diploma in police management.
The detective joined the police service in 1992, at the Benoni Police Station, where he was stationed for 19 years.
The young constable soon specialised in housebreakings at the Benoni SAPS and then started to investigate homicides — something for which he has a passion.
In little less than a year he worked through approximately 150 dockets.
Van den Berg, who is married to a policewoman, said his wife, Elaine, understands when he calls her to say he won’t be home for a night, due to work commitments.
“When I start investigating a case I will work day and night to arrest suspects, especially in murder cases,” he said.
“I don’t stop when I start; I will work on that case every day until I arrest the suspects.
“I wont sleep until I know we have them.”
The captain recalled some of the cases on which he has worked, although he could not remember the dates on which the crimes took place.
The murder of Betty Ströh (92), is among the cases he recalls.
His success may be attributed to his tenacious nature and the fact that he does more than what is expected of him.
“People said [Betty] died of natural causes because of her age, but I thought something was not right,” he said.
“I knew her from my church.
“I told myself it could not be natural causes.
“I was involved with the case at that time, but I went to the post-mortem and did an investigation of my own.
“My wife and I went to Farrarmere Gardens (where Betty lived) on foot and went from house to house.”
Van den Berg arrested the suspect on the day of the woman’s funeral.
Betty died shortly after she was robbed at her home on November 19, 2006, after being brutally beaten.
“When there is a murder case and there are no suspects, I don’t want a case to go cold,” explained van den Berg.
The humble man said that, without the help of his colleagues, the CPF and the community, he would not have been able to do his work.
Asked whether he had a motto he lived by, he said: “I once watched a video of wild dogs, and that inspires me.
“Wild dogs don’t leave you, they go on until they pull in their prey.
“Be like a wild dog, go with everything, until you have your prey.”
Van den Berg has been shot at several times and has received death threats.
He said he arrived at work one morning and someone driving a car approached him and said: “You will die like a dog”.
Van den Berg said things like that do not bother him.
When the hard-working detective is not being shot at, or receiving death threats, he spends his time fishing, camping and watching sport.
The father of two urged people to get involved with the fight against crime.
“Help us, as cops, to become better policemen,” he said.
Van den Berg left the Benoni Police Station to become the acting branch commander at the Putfontein SAPS, before being promoted to the Crystal Park SAPS.
