ROSEBANK – The suburb’s police station has a new captain at the helm in the person of Lieutenant-Colonel Logan Govender.
Govender was asked to fill the role after previous station commander Lieutenant-Colonel Zoleka Kuboni was placed in charge of Norwood police station.
Govender celebrated 28 years in the police service this year, 24 of those years spent in service to the Hillbrow community.
“Hillbrow’s like the Bronx in New York, and what I saw and experienced there taught me a lot. We dealt with anything and everything,” he said.
Govender, a father of two, attributed his passion for fighting crime to his parents.
“When I look back at my childhood in Durban and think of the values my parents instilled in me, the values I grew up with, I know why I hate crime. I made the decision to join the police service when I was in Grade 11. I knew it was something I needed to do,” he said.
Govender said his passion grew stronger after he made that decision.
After he completed his training at Durban’s Wentworth Training College in 1986, he was transferred to Hillbrow police station.
“When I arrived at Hillbrow, I worked with a warrant officer who taught me to do policing by the book. We worked together for five years. He was my mentor, and built my foundation. Mentoring is one of the things I do now. When new members join, I spend time with them and try build a foundation for them, to make them better police officers,” said Govender.
When asked about highlights and ‘lowlights’ of his career, Govender said there were too many highlights to mention, and that they certainly outnumbered the bad days.
“It’s the difference between a job and a calling. If being in the service is just a job, you need to think twice about being here. If you have a real passion for it, that passion overcomes the bad days.”
Govender said his vision for the station was to make it the best in the province, and he sang the praises of the Rosebank community.
“In the month I’ve been here, I’ve seen how incredible, how supportive, the community is. It has been very encouraging,” he said.
As he has been encouraged by the community, so Govender encouraged residents to take a more active role in the fight against crime, by attending sector crime forum meetings.
“We deal with people, to prevent them from becoming victims; we deal with perpetrators of crime, and we deal with the environment, to make it more secure. I’m passionate about sector policing, and would like to see more people involved in Community Policing Forums,” he said.
