Patricia Savage-Dallas giving service through policing
District Constable Patricia SavageDallas will be one of several Jamaicans to receive national honours and awards at King’s House on Heroes Day, October 15. She will receive the Badge of Honour for 35 years of loyal and meritorious service as a district constable.
“I’m proud and happy because I have seen what I have gained and what I have got for my years as a district constable,” said SavageDallas. “I feel so happy to receive it, knowing that for 36 years, I have been working as a district constable in the Gordon Town area,” she added.
District constables now fall under the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), following passage of the Civil Service Establishment (General Order) 2017 in Parliament.
Savage-Dallas, who joined the force on September 27, 1982, said she had gone to the Gordon Town police station to visit her grandmother, who was working there at the time, when she was told by a retired inspector of police that a vacancy existed for a woman district constable.
She said that she submitted an application and then waited for more than a year before receiving a call from a police officer who told her to report for duty.
“At that time, we did not get any training. You just had to go and sit and learn from other personnel on the job,” she said. During her decades of work, District Constable Savage-Dallas has performed Station guard duties, has assisted prisoners in custody at the station, has responded to calls relating to criminal activities, and has participated in community patrolling and policing in Gordon Town, St Andrew.
36-YEARS ON THE JOB
In her 36 years in the job, she has never been brought before a court and has never been charged for any offences. No complaints have been filed against her. The former leader of the Gordon Town Police Youth Club has developed a reputation as a caring and supportive person. “I try to help each and every person that comes my way, and I have gained a lot of respect from that. Call on Miss Savage, and I am there. Call me at any time in the night, I am there,” she says, adding that she would always receive warm greetings from persons with whom she interacted while on duty at the station.
“If I had treated those persons bad, they would not see me and greet me the way they do,” she added.