After serving at the helm of Durban's Metro Police for the past five years and a career spanning over 40 years, eThekwini’s top cop Steve Middleton, is looking forward to spending more time with his wife and children.
On Tuesday, January 31, Middleton officially goes on retirement.
Speaking to IOL, Middleton said retiring after working for most of his life feels surreal.
"I feel nervous. I feel excited but to be honest, I've been working for the last 45 years and 22 days. My mind is tired," he said.
Middleton said his children are still young and he is looking forward to making memories with them.
Speaking to The Mercury following his appointment as the city’s top cop in June 2018, Middleton said it was 28 years to the day since he joined eThekwini Municipality.
Prior to his role in the metro police, Middleton spent almost 14 years in security management.
Middleton began his policing career on January 5, 1978, when he was called up to the military police in the SA National Defence Force.
"I went through the rank levels of second lieutenant, lieutenant, captain and then major. I have been an officer commanding of a military-police base, as well as being second in command at some bases. I resigned on May 31, 1990, at the rank of major," he said.
Speaking of the highs as his tenure as Commissioner, Middleton said he thanked God for His grace over his career.
"If I single out a specific highlight, I would have to say it's having structures in place that give officers freedom to do their jobs and perform their duties. It was part of wanting to create the best Metro Police in the country, but also to creating a conducive environment so that people enjoy coming to work," he said.
Middleton said Metro Police have also achieved gender equity in having more women appointed into positions.
"Another high would be the number of new recruits we have seen. We have taken in 800 new recruits in the last four years and we've just done a new recruitment drive for an additional 200 recruits," he said.
Speaking at a farewell lunch hosted at Sica’s Guesthouse on Friday, Middleton didn’t want to divulge too much of his plans for the future, but perhaps we could see him assisting with crime-fighting initiatives in the not too distant future.
For now, Middleton said he is happy to relax at home with his wife and children and giggled that despite the horrors of load shedding, for him the two hours that he gets to see his kids – out of their bedrooms, with TV games, cellphones and WiFi unplugged while they laugh in the lounge or take a dip in the family pool – is what he’s most looking forward to.
IOL