Umbilo policeman retires after 37 years of service
Warrant Officer Desmond Ralph Panayan served all of his career at Umbillo SAPS.
UMBILO SAPS Warrant Officer Desmond Ralph Panayan has retired from the police force after 37 years of service.
Panayan enjoyed a special farewell party with the officers from the station on Wednesday, and said he was sad to say goodbye after so many years at Umbilo SAPS.
Having a father who was a police offider for 40 years, Panayan said he grew up wanting to be a policeman like his dad.
“I always wanted to be a cop, and when I completed my matric in Chatsworth, I joined the force on 26 September 1983, stationed at Umbilo. I worked in all departments over the years and joined the Crime Information and Management Centre where I was a crime analyst for the better part of my life,” he said.
He said during his time as an analyst he had a hand in making many arrests, and also enjoyed a good working relationship with community structures and leaders like Heather Roos and the former Umbilo CPF chair, Tony Blaunfeldt.
“As part of the Provincial Quality Assurance Auditing team I did oversite visits to stations in KZN from time to time, and during my time at Umbilo, I was a member of the crime registrar of the SA Police and belonged to a national department. My duties over the years included analysing crime in the area, crime threats and crime pattern analysis, and ensuring officers were deployed in the area based on intelligence from my office,” he said.
ALSO READ: Garth ready to ‘park off’ but leaves behind a legacy
The career-policeman said he had made a lot of good arrests over the years and recalled one of his last arrests made with his then partner, Sergeant Quinton Rodie. The officers arrested a hijacker who was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He and Rodie were partners for five years.
“We were always together and worked closely together. We had a very special friendship,” he said, adding that it had been a year since Rodie had passed away.
Panayan said it was the end of the road for him as a policeman, which he had to accept, although he still had a passion for the job. But he’s not ready to sit back and relax just yet. His grandson Gabriel has lots of plans to keep him busy in his retirement and he also hopes to do some travelling.
“I love cruising and I will be taking my wife Sally on a New Year’s cruise and then I will take Gabriel on a cruise to the Portuguese Islands. I will have to find something to do to keep me busy, and plan to try my hand at golf and do a little bit of fishing and see what I take to! I have had no time for hobbies during my career, being called out to crime scenes at night, always being on call has kept on my toes. I have sacrificed many weekends to be on the job. I have loved being a cop and now I need to embrace being a pensioner! I thank God I still have my health,” he said.
Panayan said being a police officer will always be in him, as it is who he is, but he planned to still pop into the station to see his colleagues.
“They are like my other family, I have spent more time at work than with my family over the years and I will miss them! My heart will always be at Umbilo. I went there as a young man, and I’m hopefully leaving as a young man,” he laughed.
Do you want to receive news alerts via Telegram? Send us a message (not an sms) with your name and surname to 060 532 5535.
You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Berea Mail Telegram number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts
Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple.
