SA Police: Meet Constable Motaung, the Only Female Bomb Specialist in Her Unit
- Constable Mammokso Motaung is a bomb disposal specialist and his being celebrated for her contribution to the South African Police Force
- The inspiring lady is the only female member of the Germiston Explosives Section in Pretoria
- Motaung shared some super helpful advice for anyone hoping to follow in her career path
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Constable Mammokso Motaung began her career in the South African National Police Force as an unpaid volunteer service member. Fast-forward 16-years and the inspiring policewoman is now one of only a handful of women in her highly skilled field.
Source: UGC
Becoming a Bomb Disposal Specialist
Motaung is a Bomb Disposal Specialists in the organisation. Originally from Phuthaditjhaba in the Free State, she began her career in 2003 as a police reservist and worked only on a volunteer basis.
The Constable found an opportunity for full-time employment and in 2005, successfully secured her role as an accounting clerk. She held this post until 2011 when an opportunity arose for her to undergo the Basic Police Learning Development Programme (BPLDP) as a police trainee at the SAPS Tshwane Academy in Pretoria.
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After four more years, the member underwent some seriously intense training and joined the Germiston Explosives Section. She is currently the only female officer in her unit.
What Motaung's job entails?
As a Bomb Disposal Specialist, the member responds to incidents that are bomb-related and defuses the deadly weapons, making sure the area is safe. Some of Motaung's daily work includes investigating incidents related to ATM bombings, cash-in-transit heists and suspicious parcel recovery.
Opening up about what it takes to do her job, the Constable shared that a person needs to have quick thinking and reasoning skills for making excellent decisions at the scene of a crime.
One also needs to be patient and have the ability to remain calm in stressful situations.
"When I arrive at a scene, I command everyone to evacuate the scene because bomb scenes are extremely dangerous. I enter the scene with the equipment and my sole focus is find the bomb," she shares.
In closing, Motaung has encouraged bystanders to be calm at an explosion site and strongly condemned members of the public from investigating bomb sites themselves.
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SAPS pay tribute to women in law enforcement, celebrate female forensic analyst
In related news, Briefly News previously reported that The South African Police Force is paying tribute to its female officers, this time highlighting the contributions of fingerprint analyst Warrant Officer Amanda Mangaliso.
Mangaliso works hard in a heavily male-dominated industry, having spent the last 9 years of her life in service to the organisation. Much of her work includes using her vast knowledge to analyse and examine fingerprints left at a crime scene.
Fingerprint analyzing
The process begins with a Crime Scene Examiner who collects evidence at the scene of the crime. Soon the evidence arrives in a lab where Magaliso might analyse it for prints.
Cross-checking these prints against other prints in the SAPS database has the potential to link a series of crimes together, or to place a suspect at the scene of a crime.
What it takes to become a fingerprint analyst
Opening up about her journey, Mangaliso shared that she is one of only 157 female Forensic Analysts in the Organisation. Holding a Bsc(Hons) Chemical Science degree, the Warrant officer says to be successful in this field an individual needs to be detail-oriented, good at analyzing data to solve problems and be good at communicating their findings as an expert witness who might testify in court.
In closing, the South African Police Force commended the officer for serving her nation with such incredible integrity and hope more women will follow in Mangaliso's footsteps.
Source: Briefly News
