Constable Richard Richards lays a rose in honour of police personnel who have died over the past year as the Area 4 Police Choir looks on. The occasion was the commemoration of the 137th anniversary of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) at the Tower Hill Missionary Church, St. Andrew yesterday. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer A POLICE honour guard yesterday paid tribute to 49 of their fallen comrades who died over the past year. Some were killed by criminals but the majority passed away from natural causes.
This observance was one of the high points of a special church service, organised by the Area 4 police, to commemorate the 137th anniversary of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), at the Tower Hill Missionary Church, St. Andrew.
As the bugler serenaded the congregation with the musical tribute of the 'Last Post', a number of officers fought back tears, especially when the names of their slain colleagues were read aloud.
With roses in their right hands, rank and file officers attired in their white tunics, marched up single file to lay the flower on a table in the midst of the church, near the podium. Each rose represented a member of the force killed in the line of duty between November last year and the weekend.
NATURAL CAUSES
At least 35 of those who died within the period, passed on as a result of natural causes, while another 14 were killed in the line of duty.
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Senator Kern Spencer, who read the first lesson, said the nation was suffering from a significant number of youth crimes and that the JCF continued to implement strategies to deal with the problem.
Senior Superintendent Leon Rose, who represented Assistant Commissioner for Area 4, Keith 'Trinity' Gardner and read a message from Police Commissioner Francis Forbes, spoke of new measures to rid the police force of corruption.
The congregation was entertained by the Grace Thrillers and police personnel attached to various groups in Area 4. Similar church services were held yesterday in other parishes to celebrate the JCF's 137 years of existence.
