Athlone police station said goodbye to two of their station heads this month. But there to stand in are two captains who are ready to take over the reigns.
Lieutenant Colonel Clive Nicholas, who served as the station’s head of visible policing (vispol) and Lieutenant Colonel Alvin Larry, who was the commander of the Crime Investigations Department (CID), both retired from the police force this month.
Taking over in the interim are captains Siyabulela Msizi, acting vispol head, and Mzoxolo Livi, acting captain of the CID unit.
Captain Livi started out his career in the police force at Kraaifontein police station as a warrant officer in 2008 as he had a passion for helping the community. Shortly after that he moved on to Plattekloof police station and in June 2018 he joined Athlone SAPS as head of the CID unit.
Captain Livi would not be drawn on which issues he would prioritise should he be chosen for one of the positions but did tell Athlone News he believed in conducting his work thoroughly and that he was adaptable to any situation or position.
“I can’t say if there is anything that I would change as yet, I will have to see when I get there. I enjoy being a police officer and do my work as I should,” he said.
Captain Msizi started in April 2012 as a legal official for Athlone SAPS. He became interested in a career as a police officer and applied for positions at Caledon, Athlone, and Lansdowne police stations and became the shift commander at Athlone SAPS in 2016.
He said that getting to the know the community better, and improving SAPS’ relationship with residents would be among his top priorities should he land one of the positions.
“I want the residents to know that they can trust us and rely on us and I want us to have a good relationship with the community. I want them to work with us as we can’t cover each part of the area. They have the eyes and ears on the ground that we need,” he said.
He said that becoming a police officer had not been part of his plan as he studied law and even though people encourage him to further his career in law he is committed to serving the community.
“My father was a teacher so the part of me wanting to be a public servant is what I get from my father. My sister says I should pursue a career in law as I studied for that but there is so much I have learnt as a police officer I wouldn’t give this up,” he said.
