The Lentegeur community is mourning the loss of one of its most devoted safety champions, Trevor de Kock, who passed away on 8 November at the age of 57, following a heart attack after a short illness.
Born on 1 June 1968, De Kock dedicated more than two decades of his life to community safety, becoming synonymous with neighbourhood watch efforts in Lentegeur West.
A life defined by service
“Trevor never just joined a neighbourhood watch — he was the neighbourhood watch,” Basil Coetzee, former Lentegeur Community Police Forum (CPF) Chair, said. Coetzee had worked closely with De Kock for years and was the main speaker at his memorial service at Lentegeur Police Station last week.
“He had a very particular and peculiar passion, and that is community safety. He was literally a moving open door to his neighbours,” Coetzee said.
He said De Kock, who worked in the security industry, had a passion for police work.
“Trevor would have made one hell of a police officer. That was his passion. It’s what he silently always wanted to be. He was in the security industry, and I think that’s where his passion for community safety came from. I remember he worked at a clothing shop, but he was supposed to sell clothes. Yet whenever there was a robbery somewhere or a pickpocket, Trevor was there. He was always alert,” Coetzee said.
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He recalled several anecdotes which painted De Kock as a suburban Rambo with a kind heart, an abrupt but generous figure who carried handcuffs and his own personal crime scene tape. He would patrol the streets as soon as he got home from work.
“Sometimes I thought he was off to Afghanistan,” Coetzee joked. “I spoke to him and said ‘Trevor, no, we’re not at war.’ But eventually I allowed him to carry what he needed.”
De Kock was invaluable at fresh crime scenes, Coetzee said, taking control of the area and making sure that everything was preserved for detectives.
He recalled an incident when a young person was shot. “When the person was shot, as we ran to it, Trevor was already on the phone. I didn’t even think about it, but he had three or four phones. A few minutes after, we sat there with the mother of the deceased, and Trevor secured the perimeter of the crime scene. I never had to ask him to do it. He would have a bag with white-and-red tape. He would put it out and by the time the police came, they didn’t have to worry about it. When the detectives came, they found untouched crime scenes. That was Trevor.”
Coetzee said that De Kock was not only generous with his time during patrols but was always ready to answer when neighbours had problems.
“And not necessarily a safety problem, just a people’s problem. Trevor would go. He had a bicycle with worn tires and storage, but he would go everywhere with that bike.”
A devoted friend and family man
Not all Coetzee’s recollections were humorous though. He recalled with emotion how good a friend De Kock had been to him.
“We would go to his house and I can tell you something — we would sit late at night and talk.”
De Kock is survived by his wife Matilda and son Trevino.
“Trevor and Matilda told me one day, ‘We have a surprise for you.’ Then we went to Cape Town. You know what the two of them did? They put me on those buses, right on top, and he told me ‘This is for you’.”
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De Kock also maintained a close working relationship with the police, especially the station commanders, such as the Lentegeur Police Station’s first commander, Col Elizabeth Hermanus.
“Between the two of them, when you saw one, you would look for the other — as if they were joined at the hip. But it was because of his relationship with people, irrespective of rank, standards, or status. He approached everybody in the same way.”
Coetzee said De Kock embodied the true spirit of police work.
“Many acting policemen could have learned from him, not about administrative duties, but about compassion and dignity, about commitment, because the police are who we go to when we need assistance.”
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