Dealing drugs? Super cop Van den Berg will get you!

Warrant Officer Hermanus van der Berg flanked by police generals after he received an award for Visible Policing Employee of the Year for his 404 drug-related arrests during the Tshwane West Cluster Excellence Awards ceremony held at Freedom Park. Picture: Masi Losi

Warrant Officer Hermanus van der Berg flanked by police generals after he received an award for Visible Policing Employee of the Year for his 404 drug-related arrests during the Tshwane West Cluster Excellence Awards ceremony held at Freedom Park. Picture: Masi Losi

Published Nov 21, 2016

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Pretoria - A staggering 404 and counting - that’s the number of drug dealers and users arrested by Pretoria super cop Warrant Officer Hermanus van der Berg this year alone.

And he may not be done yet, as the soft-spoken officer hinted when he said: “It is not even December; things are still going to get worse.”

Van der Berg, who is deployed at Pretoria Central police station, was named the best Visible Employee for 2016 during the Tshwane West Cluster Excellence Awards ceremony on Friday night at Freedom Park.

He told the Pretoria News he was delighted to have had his efforts rewarded for the hard work he put in throughout the year.

“I handle drug-related cases, catching dealers and users as well. We try to get help for users by getting them checked into rehab,” he said.

Van der Berg made 411 drug-related arrests last year . This year’s figure is therefore slightly lower than last year’s.

But, as he said, 2016 still has a few weeks to go.

He was also nominated in the same category at the Gauteng Police Excellence Awards, where he was a runner-up.

Van der Berg said his unit was facing a major challenge in curbing the scourge of drugs in the city centre and townships. This was because of the inflow of drugs which seemed to increase every year. “There are more drugs coming on to the streets - a variety of them. Right now we are facing a huge challenge with teenagers consuming a drug called Purple Drink,” he said.

He described Purple Drink as a concoction of soft drink and codeine (found in cough syrups), sweets and ice.

“After they are done mixing it, it has a purplish colour.

“This is what school kids are using when they’re partying. It’s as potent as drinking liquor because of the codeine that makes them high,” he said.

Another drug that he said was plaguing the streets of Pretoria was heroin. “However, users often cannot distinguish the drug from cheaper variations of heroin, thus putting their lives in danger due to ignorance,” said the father of three, who started his SAPS career in 1990.

He also warned of a highly addictive drug known as “krokodil” that had been around for a few years, but posed a major problem since resurfacing on the streets of Pretoria recently. “The effects of this drug are unpleasant,” Van der Berg said. “It starts to eat away at the skin where the user injected it into their body. It’s dangerous.”

His cluster commander, Major-General Tommy Mthombeni, said the objective of the awards was to acknowledge and appreciate the hard work that was being done by police officers.

However, he said they needed to continue working harder to build relationships with communities they worked in.

He said the awards ceremony took place against the backdrop of a difficult year which was defined by violent protests, particularly Tshwane ANC unrest in the run-up to the local government elections in August. The unrest spanned over a week and was characterised by violence and looting.

“We have been dealing with #FeesMustFall protests, and recently we had a challenge when various political parties marched to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, while some had a night vigil on Church Square,” he said.

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Pretoria News

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