Daraine Luton, Staff ReporterMEMORIES, IT is said, are like a thread of gold. They never perish, they never grow old.
Even years after the murder of policemen, the events which scarred the lives of families have not faded. Many still remember the fateful day a beloved family member became a statistic another member of the police force killed in the line of duty.
For Mrs. Michelle Ergas Ramson who lost her brother, Dalkieth Ergas, to the gun three years ago, it seems just like
yesterday when she received the
telephone call that he had been shot and had died.
Unlike others who lost police family members to gunmen's bullets, Ergas-Ramson lost her 23-year-old brother to friendly fire.
Constable Ergas was a member of a police party carrying out spot checks in the Corporate Area on May 23, 2003. While checking a motor car at the intersection of Hannah Street and Slipe Pen Road, the firearm of another member of the party was accidentally discharged, hitting Constable Ergas.
"Although it has been three years, it is hard to move on. Some family members still have to be getting counselling," Ergas-Ramson told The Sunday Gleaner.
Behavioural scientist, Dr. Grace Kelly, believes it is very important for people who have lost family members violently or otherwise, to get professional help to deal with the loss.
But what about those who might not have lost loved ones but have relatives in the security force? Can they prepare for the worse?
Dr. Kelly says yes.
"It is a known fact that situation on the front line puts people like police and soldiers at risk just by being in those position.
But how prepared can you get to have your relatives snatched away from you?
The fact that they are in these jobs put them at high risk and family members must try and relate to this. It is harsh but it is true," Dr. Kelly explained.
Mrs. Ergas-Ramson can relate. She has a sister in the constabulary force and wants her out.
"I want to see my sister out. I would never encourage any member of my family to become a police. I don't want to be home and get another call that a family member has been shot," recounts Ergas-Ramson.
"We are at a stage where it is difficult to go forward since the loss of Dalkieth. My mother, who is 56, no longer keeps good health. It is hard for us to move on. It is very devastating to lose someone that way," she said.
Nadine Roberts too is haunted by memories of the past. She remembers vividly the day her boyfriend, also a cop, died.
"I remember going to the hospital and seeing his blood-stained clothes. the memories are horrible," she said.
Ms. Roberts met detective constable Ian Smith in 1995. They shared a great dream - comfortable house, nice car and healthy children. And despite him working in the line of fire, being a policeman, Ms. Roberts never thought that one day she would take him to the grave.
But she did.
It was 1998 - a historic year for Jamaica. The country was playing in its first World Cup and detective constable Smith, 23 years old at the time, wanted to see the game.
But on the evening of June 13, the day before the Reggae Boyz challenged Croatia in their first World Cup game, the 23-year-old cop was killed.
STABBED 18 TIMES
Smith, who was attached to the Cross Road CIB, was on his way to work. He lived at Guango Crescent, off Bay Farm Road in St. Andrew, and was a passenger on a minibus which plied the Waterhouse/Cross Road route. Three men kicked him off the bus in the vicinity of Langard Ave, Kingston, took his service pistol and stabbed him 18 times. He died in hospital.
Ms. Roberts who was pregnant at the time twice fainted on the day Detective Corporal Smith died.
She gave birth to a son, Tevaughn Ian Smith, eight months after. Tevaughn, she says, is a teacher's joy in school but he suffers from medical complications. While doctors have not explicitly said it to her, Ms. Roberts is convinced Tevaughn's condition may have been caused by the tremendous stress Ms. Roberts underwent during pregnancy.
Tevaughn has been under the doctor's knife four times, twice for hernia, once for brain tumour and the other time to remove keloid as a result of the tumour surgery.
"Ian was a really loving man. It's hard to forget him and how he died. He always wanted a child, I wish he was here to see him (Tevaughn) grow," he said.
Like detective constable Smith, constable Ergas has left younger ones behind. When Ergas died his pair of twins were just over a year - too young to know daddy.
But while these children will soon be asking for daddy, one father is at a lost as to why his son was gunned away.
Corporal Lincoln Parker was a birthday present for his grandmother, having born the day she was celebrating her 45th birthday.
But as is so often the case these days, the grand mother, who might have preferred for her grandson to take her to the grave, saw her grandson being buried last weekend.
"Nobody would understand what it feels like to lose a son dat way," Corporal Parker's father, Cecil Parker, said.
Corporal Parker was shot about his body 22 times by gunmen. All this happened a stone's throw away from his parents De La Vega City home in Spanish Town, St. Catherine. The elder Mr. Parker passes the spot where his son died everyday and it makes him angry and emotional.
"Mi can't tek it. Because of that I don't even like being at the house. It just hard to deal with...I just want to see those who killed him come to justice. And I don't mean lock up.
Dem fi carry dem a Parade (St. William Grant 's Park - Downtown, Kingston) and announce seh such and such a murderer a go dead and if people want see dem come out a look. Dem nuffi a murder people like dat." he said.
The dead corporal was Mr. Parker's eldest son, one to whom he has been both mother and father since nine months old.
Today, the daddy says he finds comfort in the bottle but this is still not enough. Not when he remembers seeing his son's lifeless body on the ground that fateful Saturday night.
"Because him was a police you kinda look seh him might get shoot pon operation but mi never ever think him would get him dead so...amongst who him grow. De more dem murder him and mi don't know if I can ever forget this," Mr. Parker lamented.
Dr. Kelly meanwhile has recommended professional help for people who have lost love ones under such circumstances.
"Seek help," she stressed of them.
"Loss of family members in this way may be very devastating. Their emotions impact their eating patterns, sleeping patterns and it may be detrimental," said Kelly.
