Nominee for Top Cop this May: Best Relief Team
DOUGLASDALE – Meet this month’s Top Cop award nominee.
This month’s nomination for the Best Shift is Echo Relief, a team that was formed in the beginning of 2015 as an impact group which targets specific crimes that emerge in the Douglasdale area.
The Echo Relief team is divided into two sub-groups, the first of which is commanded by Captain Martyn Jacobs, while the second is commanded by Seargent Petrus Kwalate. For this month’s nomination, the entire Echo Relief team has been nominated for the work they do.
Captain Fritz Kriel, who oversees Echo Relief, spoke to the Fourways Review about what makes this team so special. “I believe that the backbone of the Douglasdale Saps is Echo,” he said.
“They were founded so that they would be able to target particular crime trends that can be seen in the area, so they work nontraditional shifts, which means that their families are sometimes affected.”
Echo has a total of 15 officers, which are divided into two groups (Group 1 has seven members, while Group 2 has eight).
“[They] have had many successes in the two years since they were formed in crimes involving drugs, firearms and armed robberies,” Kriel continued.
But it was a recent operation on 17 May that landed Echo Relief this month’s Best Shift nomination. On that Monday morning, the Douglasdale police received a call from the Public Order Police, (who not only maintain order during public gatherings like protests, but also gather information in order to prevent crimes) requesting assistance from their team.
A drug manufacturing laboratory was suspected to be in operation in the Douglasdale area, and it was Echo’s job to investigate.
“Echo team was on the scene for about 12 hours,” explained Captain Jacobs, who is also this month’s nomination for Best Visual Policing.
“They went onto the property and discovered about 250 dagga plants of various sizes being grown in a hydroponic lab. They also found three unlicensed firearms on the premises, and a suspect was arrested,” Kriel concluded.
Jacobs added, “I believe that the Echo team is able to do work that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to do. We cannot take resources from other sectors in order to deal with some issues, and [in situations like these] the Echo team is deployed.”
Check out the other nominees for this month at the Douglasdale Police Station:
Nominee for this month’s Top Cop, Best Support, at Douglasdale Police Station
NOMINEE: Sergeant Donald Sekomane is a detective who goes beyond the call of duty
Top Cop nominee, Captain Martyn Jacobs, for Visual Policing this May
Top Cop Award nomination for best vispol at Douglasdale Police Station this May
