Female cops shine on the job
2010-09-09 10:57
Johannesburg - When it comes to handling dogs, the Vaal Triangle's women in blue don't have to stand back one bit for their male colleagues.
Hardened criminals fear the women of the K9 unit (the former dog unit) in the Vaal Rand.
The unit comprises of Captain Estie Steyl, Sergeants Janita Rost and Hester de Klerk, Constables Thando Tendeza, Mamokete Radebe, Minki Motaung, Ditsemelo Moekoena, Dora Motsamai, Mataphele Hlaele and Anelique Hattingh.
In order to celebrate Women's Month, only female members of the unit worked shifts during August.
Huge success
"For one month there were only women on this shift and it was a huge success," boasted unit commander Lieutenant Colonel Lucas Nkosi.
"They arrested 63 people, 15 of whom were suspected of having committed serious crimes."
They also confiscated 1787kg dagga, two stolen vehicles, a hijacked truck with a load valued at R2.5m and even a fake bar of gold.
With these successes, the women beat the men, who during Women's Month manned the other shifts.
"The women also did road blocks, normal policing and had time to do two dog shows for the elderly as well as collect blankets for a children's home," said Nkosi.
He said the women were creative too.
"Among the ten women are a part-time model, female soccer and indoor cricket players who play for police teams as well as a singer."
Trophies
During the training the women did fitness exercises with the men and were shown no mercy.
Yet both Steyl (in 1996) and De Klerk (in 2008) beat the men during their training and were each awarded with the trophy for best dog trainer and dog.
They were the only two women who had managed this so far.
Steyl was also South Africa's dog sport champion in 2008 and 2009.
Tendeza used her singing voice to entertain the elderly during social events that were organised by the unit's women.
Motaung, who sometimes models, was last year named the sexiest model by SA Beauty, a model agency.
Yet she likes to chase criminals with her explosives dog, Ursula, a labrador.
With dog heroes like Ursula, ET (also an explosives dog), Brakenjan (a drugs sniffer) and Snowy (a patrol dog), Motaung and the versatile K9 women will give criminals a hard time.