“Police work made me tough, but I never lost my femininity,” says hostage negotiator, Venita
Venita Olivier's training as a hostage negotiator was intensive and really tough, working in a simulated hostage situation in a corrective centre and at one stage the trainees were kept awake for nearly three weeks.
POLOKWANE – Lt Col Venita Olivier has been in the police for 22 years. Like her father and grandfather, she has chosen the police as a career.
“My father told me to go to university first, so I studied political sciences and then did my honours in anthropology. I then decided that it was time for me to join the police.”
Today she is in charge of training 11 000 policemen and women per year in sub-section training. She started off by being trained as a paramedic in the police. “I saw the need for this, as the police are often on the scene of an accident before the ambulances get there. I later, after doing psychometric tests, got accepted to do training as a hostage negotiator. “I am living my dream, and I have never regretted choosing the police service.”
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She is quick to ascertain that it is not a romantic job. “It is not as easy as it seems in the movies, believe me. You deal with blood and guts in real life. Ambulances do not always get to accident scenes soon, and somebody must assist victims. We are only 13 in the province. We are deployed when somebody is kidnapped or wants to commit suicide. As a woman, it is a big challenge but the attention to detail, analytical mind and empathy are important. Sometimes after an incident, one needs debriefing.”
Venita said it was her good luck to get married to a policeman, as he understands and she could talk to him about her feelings and her work. “It is wonderful if an incident ends on a positive note, but not all incidents end well. My husband knows what people can go through in such a situation, and it can be very sad, especially if children are involved.” She described him as her rock, somebody she could talk to.
She said being in the police is challenging. “It is, to a great extent, a man’s world. But I love my job. The police service has only ever been good to me. I have in me the need to give back and assist people. I know the police do not always have a good image but believe me, most of the people in the service are really good people.”
Her training as a hostage negotiator was intensive and really tough, working in a simulated hostage situation in a corrective centre and at one stage the trainees were kept awake for nearly three weeks. Teamwork is important. “It is out in the field where one learns a lot. My first hostage incident started at 00:00 and ended at 14:00 the next day. I was so happy that it ended well. Each situation has its own dynamics. It is sad if children get lost or run away from home. Knowledge of people is worth a lot in such situations. Sometimes you even have to be the middleman between the family and the police.”
Venita said she is a strong woman who does not get easily depressed. “In a suicide situation you have to talk a lot, but at other times you have to listen more. It is so sad when a person does not see anything worth living for, especially when it is a young person. Times have changed a lot, and there is a lot of pressure on people. People find it easy to talk to me. I do not wear a uniform or a weapon and love to work with the community and my team. We keep communicating through WhatsApp. The most difficult part of my job is when a person goes missing and there are no clues as to what happened and why. Sometimes you find the body but you never get answers. It is tough.”
She brought up her daughter, “a little over-protected.” “I know what is going on in the world out there. The police work made me tough, but I have never lost my femininity. It is us, the mothers and women, that have to keep the balance at home. There are so many roles we must play.”
Venita works one week and then she is off the next but on stand-by. For young women wanting to join the police, she said there are a lot of opportunities in a wide spectrum of jobs like psychologists, the dog unit, profiling, hostage negotiators, human resources, the diving unit and search and rescue. “One has to have a passion to help people want to make a difference and one does not always get acknowledgement for work well done.”
Venita said she has 16 years to go before going on pension: “Time is too short, there is so much I still want to do.”
