Berea SAPS nets new communications officer
The year 2006 marked the beginning of her career at Berea SAPS Station. Then a fresh-out-of-college rookie, she has since climbed the ladder steadily with a clear intention of fighting crime.
SERGEANT Nokuthula Dlamini is the new Berea SAPS Communications Officer, filling the seat previously occupied by Captain Poobalan Naidoo.
After six months of police training at Bishop Lavis Academy, she was deployed to Berea police station 19 years ago.
She admits that being a police officer was not her childhood dream; this is a career she stumbled into by chance.
“I’ve always seen myself on big stages, the silver screen, and fame as an actress. I studied Drama at DUT until I dropped out in the final year because of extensive travelling as an actress. This was when I applied for police training, and this decision was not intentional; it was all casual, and I didn’t expect to be called in,” Dlamini chuckled.
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She has never looked back. Throughout her tenure in the police, she has participated in an array of accomplished courses, topped with an award for Best Female in Crime Prevention.
She is armed with expertise in forensic investigations, domestic violence, crime scene management, and more.
“My passion is working with victims of abuse and vulnerable children,” she said.
The road, she reckons, has not been easy. She has battled personal grief, which almost ended it all. In 2021 she lost her mother, whom she describes as her best friend and pillar of strength.
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Through the loss, she fell into the dark pit of depression, and nothing else in the world mattered. “I literally wanted to die and be buried with her,” she recalls. It is her inner strength and family support that finally pulled her back to a career she loved.
She has had her hand in various units within policing, including detectives, visible policing, crime prevention, charge office, data capturing, and relief commander. Ready and able, Dlamini is amped about her new role, citing that she is a people person and enjoys human interaction.
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