Current Affairs

As Tivoli Gardens residents try to move past the events surrounding the west Kingston security operations, police Inspector Cupie Collier-Dobson is stressing the importance of giving the recovering community a chance to transform itself.

Collier-Dobson, who is in charge of community-based policing, said Jamaicans need to give Tivoli Gardens residents the chance to be independent and not "depend on handouts".

"It's going to take time and support, and not only from the police," said Collier-Dobson, who also counsels.

She stressed that a cooperative effort was needed to resocialise the community.

"The residents are not used to this kind of policing. They are people, and they need the support," she said.

Tivoli Gardens residents have been outspoken on trust issues, after claims of abuse and victimisation during and after the Labour Day military incursion which drove out gunmen who barricaded themselves in the stronghold of accused drug baron, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

One soldier and 73 civilians were killed in three days of firefights.

Collier-Dobson, who has a degree in guidance counselling and seven years of experience in therapy, told The Gleaner about a Tivoli child who told her that she missed her dead father.

"I hugged her," Collier-Dobson said. "You get overwhelmed but, as counsellors, you have to deal with each case professionally."

One change the inspector has noticed since being posted in the community is that more residents are seeking help from the police.

"They're not coming in abundance, but coming around slowly.

"The people are still angry and grieving," she remarked.

Collier-Dobson said these are normal reactions for persons who have experienced high-trauma events. Relatives of the Tivoli dead have still not been able to bury the bodies of loved ones.

"People are still hurting," she said.

SOURCE: Laura Redpath, Jamaica Gleaner

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