Heroic' junior officers make their mark
Aabida Allaham
Thursday, December 24th 2009
went beyond the call: From left-police officers Kizzy Henry-Rigault, Ronella Alleyne, Hakim Bullen, Lorraine Leopold and Racquel Smith after finishing their late shift yesterday at their Biljah Road base in Chaguanas. -Photo: DEXTER PHILIP
AT a time when people are losing all hope and confidence in the Police Service, five junior police officers are setting out to change the way society sees them.
Coming off their late-night shift, the constables yesterday spoke to the Express, at their Biljah Road base in Chaguanas, about the incident that has labelled them heroes in communities across the country.
The group-comprising four female officers, Lorraine Leopold, Ronella Alleyne, Kizzy Henry-Rigault and Racquel Smith; and one male officer, Hakim Bullen-is part of the Ministry of National Security’s Project 250 which was created to manage ’hot spots’ throughout the country.
The awe-inspiring moment, however, came last Sunday while they were making regular patrols in the Port of Spain area.
Reports are that the officers heard an All Points Bulletin (APB) informing them that a gunman had snatched two-year-old Teja Pierre from the arms of her mother, Mary Pierre, at their Maraval home. The officers sprang into action, disregarding the fact that they were out of the jurisdiction.
’I think the only thing on our minds then was to just make sure we get back that two-year-old child... and yeah, I guess being a parent had something to do with it,’ Bullen, 30, told the Express yesterday.
Splitting up, the officers searched the hilly area for about two and a half hours before Bullen finally came across a locked shack, broke a lock to get in and found Teja resting from exhaustion on a mattress inside.
When asked what motivated them to rush to the scene, forgetting about protocol, Smith, 32, said as a police officer, it was her duty to protect and serve, but maternal instincts played a part in their swiftness.
’We are trying to get back everything that we, as in this country, losing, (morals, everything) on the whole, and I mean, it was a two-year-old baby... the fact of the matter is it was also a baby... you don’t want to see a next mother lose a child,’ she said.
Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Raymond Craig, who was also at the base that day, told the Express, ’Being a parent is one, but being a police officer foremost was what made them act.’
’Something like this is part of our duty... and it was just a normal daily routine,’ interjected Bullen. Craig added that it was ’just alarming that a human being would just take somebody’s child’.
The officers refuse to consider themselves heroes, however, even though they are the reason Teja is safely back in her mother’s arms.
’You know, everybody is talking about us as being heroes, but really, we don’t feel that way. I think the only real feeling that we got that we did something was when we were there in that moment and actually seeing that everything turned out okay,’ Smith said.
’It was a feeling of joy and, in addition to feeling proud, I knew the mother would feel happy to have her child home for Christmas and not somewhere else,’ Bullen added.
They all agreed that returning the child was the moment they realised how much people appreciated what they did.
’My heart feels good and we are just happy about this whole thing and we know that we want to continue this and help people because that is why we are here,’ Alleyne exclaimed.
