Meet Douglasdale’s new station commander

The community recently welcomed a new station commander to the Douglasdale Police Station.

Brigadier Sammy Thambo started his tenure at the station on 2 October and has a wealth of experience in the position.

He has been at the helm of different police stations such as Koster, Schweizer-Reneke, Ventersdorp, Boksburg North and Germiston Police stations. Before being deployed to Douglasdale, Thambo was head of the human resources development division that renders training in the South Police Service in Pretoria.

“I was the section head of ceremonial discipline and protocol. I requested to come back to work at a police station because that is where I was before I was requested by the national commissioner because of my expertise in police protocol to draft policies that will govern the issue of protocol within the police,” said Thambo.

The new station commander has undergone extensive training under the Station Commander’s Learning Programme to equip him with the tools necessary to run a police station.

“It entails… principles of managing the station which includes public finance management act, finances and community outreaches. Just because I’m here does not mean I will compare the environment to my previous stations.

What matters is the demographics, environment, and wealth of the community I am serving, so I need to broaden my views. In my travels, I have learned how to adapt and adopt the manner of the people I am serving.”

With 37 years in the police force, Thambo has learned how to deal with the pressure and challenges of his position.

He works according to the organogram of the Saps where there are core managers who are entrusted with certain responsibilities.

“I do not involve myself, as I know the core managers can do the work given. But at the end of the day, I am the one responsible.
“One of the challenges I face is that of police killings, however, we do have safety strategies that each of our officers knows.

The growing population in the station’s area without the municipality involving us in their integrated development plan is another challenge. We want to be informed about suburbs so we are not serving a larger community without sufficient resources.”

Thambo’s expectations of the Douglasdale community is to form a partnership with them and strive to bring better service. He also stressed that the community must do their bit to thwart potential crimes by closing their gates at home.

“I would also recommend becoming a police officer to anyone who is interested. But I must stress that we need diversity in the police. Not having diversity is a challenge, as sometimes the cultural barriers make it difficult for us to do our job. We do not have enough white, Indian or coloured officers.

We can’t allow a situation where there are only black officers because we are serving a rainbow nation.”

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