MAJOR General James Sayer has been appointed as the eThekwini Inner and Outer West Cluster Commander which was previously known as the Pinetown Cluster.
Sayer, who has been a policeman for 36 years, will be in charge of eight police stations; Westville, Pinetown, Hammarsdale, Mpumalanga, Inchanga, KwaDabeka, Umsunduzi and Hillcrest.
He started working in 1980 as a constable at the SA Railway Police in Durban and was promoted to sergeant in 1982 in Cape Town.
He received another promotion to warrant officer before he returned to Durban. He climbed through the ranks to tsk over the command of Brighton Beach Police Station.
He was transferred to Port Edward Police Station and later to Montclair Station as its commander.
Sayer said working in Montclair he picked up valuable experience. “I interacted with the hostels and the community I had never been exposed to. I learnt life values which no school could ever teach me,” he said.
Between 1996 and 2000, he was a superintendent and worked as visible commander in Umlazi Police Station. When the Durban South area was closed down in 2007 where he worked as a deputy area commander, Sayer was appointed as KwaDabeka Police Station Commander, then the Pinetown Cluster Commander before being redeployed in 2012. He was then in charge of the Brighton Beach Cluster and also worked as deputy cluster commander.
After years of working in various communities, Sayer is back in the Highway area with the rank of Major General. He said he wanted the community to feel safe and not to be prisoners in their own homes.
“Crime does not only affect certain people, the public should work together with the police,” he said.
One of his initiatives is to meet with all role players once a week, including metro police, correctional services, CPFs and the K9 Unit to strategise on to try combat crime.
Sayer is also a family man, he is married and has three children and two grandchildren.
Sayer can be contacted on 082 417 5246 or email sayerd@saps.gov.za.
