Several high-school students have received laptops under the St. Catherine North Police Community Safety and Security Peace Ambassadors in School Initiative.
The programme seeks to reform young people who exhibit behavioural problems in school and empowers them to become peace ambassadors.
Assistant Police Youth Club Coordinator for the St. Catherine North Police Youth Club Council, Corporal Shantel Powell, who spoke at the recent handover ceremony, held at the Spanish Town Police Station in St. Catherine, said when the students become peace ambassadors, “we monitor and evaluate them for a year and then measure their improvement and see if they need to undergo more training to improve their behaviour”.
“These tokens are for your benefit and development, so you are being asked to take care of them and use them for your empowerment and development. Don’t use them to do anything bad. Make use of them,” Miss Powell, who is also the LASCO/JCF Police Officer of the Year, urged.
“I know that it is hard, sometimes, for children to go to school, and parents can’t find it to buy different things, and provide them with the necessary resources, so here you have a kind heart, a winning hand who has seen the need and stepped up to the cause to say, hey, here are laptops for students that can really help them get a better education,” she said.
The laptops were donated by United Kingdon (UK)-based Jamaican national, Donique Sinclair-Chambers, who told the students that the programme is “amazing” and they have been given a “fantastic opportunity to engage in something so impactful on your lives, and it is definitely something that you shouldn’t take lightly”.
“It is a great opportunity for others to invest in you, for you to be shown the right way. This programme seems to be going above and beyond anything in the usual capacity of police officers, and this is something, again, you shouldn’t take lightly. It is fantastic to hear what is being done. There are other programmes that I know that are happening and other charities, but what the police are doing here is amazing work,” she said.
For Territorial Officer in the St. Catherine North Police Division, Inspector Ishmael Williams, the gifts must be valued.
“I want you to use them for productive and constructive engagements. So, whatever you are doing, it must be something that is educational and edifying. See yourselves as wonderful persons because you are here, highly appreciated, but whatever effort is placed on you, it will help you to be better persons. Please young people, do not take this opportunity for granted,” the Inspector said.
Meanwhile, student at the Spanish Town-based Eltham High School, Justine Stone, said the peace ambassador programme has taught him that self-identity is important, because “you can’t promote peace if you are internally conflicted.”
“Leadership starts with self-awareness. Overall, peace ambassador training taught me that peace is active, not passive. This training taught me patience, as well as taught me not to assume, and most of all, taught me to ask questions respectfully rather than judging,” he said.
