Commitment and dedication earned Warrant Officer Wendy Lee the Woman of the Year honours at the Western Cape SAPS Excellence Awards held at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town on Saturday.

Speaking to Daily Maverick shortly after the ceremony, Lee, who is based at Herold satellite police station near George, said: “This award comes as a big surprise. But I couldn’t have done it without an entire team of eight people, including the tea lady. We are motivated and driven by teamwork. Some of our officers were out sick during Covid-19, and those who were on leave came in to work.”

She said the majority of people in the Herold area worked on farms. It was a daily struggle for these impoverished communities to put food on the table, and alcohol abuse was a major issue.

“Our most serious issue is contact crime, which includes murder, rape and domestic violence. The main contributor to crime in our rural area is alcohol,” she said.

Alcohol abuse

Her top priority is to combat the scourge of alcohol, which contributed to rape and domestic violence.

“It is not easy for a woman police officer to continually hear these horrific rape and domestic violence incidents. You sit with the victim and listen to heartbreaking details, which has an emotional impact. However, that is all part of the job. A cop is a teacher, a preacher, a social worker and a nurse.”

Lee’s anti-crime work extends beyond the precinct, to the wider community, where she has been chairperson of the local Community Policing Forum (CPF) for nine years. 

“Organising Women’s Day, Youth Day activities, and anything else that will lead to community upliftment is on my long list of community project tasks. And in the office, I look at how we can reduce crime.

“Dealing with alcohol abuse is a constant process and merely telling a person to stop drinking is not the solution. As a police officer, I need to show the mother who is struggling with alcohol other options for dealing with her problem,” she said. 

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Youth development was at the top of her agenda. 

“Our neighbourhood has no recreational facilities. Herold is approximately 35km from George, and our children frequently hike to travel to George.

“Fostering collaboration with other roleplayers will go a long way toward assisting our youth in obtaining recreation facilities, keeping them occupied and away from drugs or gangsterism,” she said. 

Lee’s motto is that early influence has a lasting impact and that motivating young people can produce positive results.  

Other top achievers at the ceremony include:

Top Detective: Lieutenant-Colonel Adrian Pretorius. His investigation led to the arrest and prosecution of David van Boven in July 2022 for the double murder of UWC student Jesse Hess and her grandfather, Chris Lategan, in August 2019. Van Boven received a double life sentence.

Catch of the Year: OCI Narcotics for a R583-million cocaine haul on a fishing vessel in Saldanha Bay in March 2021. 

Man of the Year: Constable Kwayo Louw.

Community Police Forum of the Year: Wynberg CPF, accepted by Anzar Salie.

Also in Daily Maverick, the motivational talk to police by Gift of the Givers’ Imtiaz Sooliman. DM

Daily Maverick will publish further articles by Vincent Cruywagen on award-winning Western Cape cops this week.