‘It hurts me to the core’
Corporal Cyril Francis has described the murder of his colleagues Detective Corporal Dane Biggs and Constable Dicardo Hylton in Spanish Town last Friday as ‘painful.’ Francis found the news of the men’s murder even more disturbing, as he baptised Corporal Biggs and was the minister at his wedding a few years ago.
“The situation with my colleagues, it hurts me to the core. They were executing their duties … they just went out to serve, protect. It pains!” Francis, a policeman of almost 20 years, told THE STAR.
Francis, 41, a police officer and pastor, remembers Biggs, who was the only child for his parents, as a quiet young man. Biggs’ cousin, also a policeman, died in a similar fashion after he was shot by gunmen in Manchester in 1997.
“I baptised Biggs some years ago, and I was the person who officiated at his wedding. too. Biggs is a quiet, humble, young man. He is disciplined, focused … you never hear him raise him voice, but he can get upset,” he said, laughing. “He’s a very humble fellow and everybody love Biggs.”
Having such a connection with Biggs, even outside of the uniform, Francis, who is called the ‘Preaching Policeman’, found his death difficult.
“It wasn’t easy. The chaplin and I had to go and do the death notification. We had to go to his wife’s workplace … but God knows best.”
Francis demystifies a popular misconception that police officers are incapable of being Christians.
“I am a police officer myself, and also a pastor. Police officers can be Christians and can live the Christian life. All we have to do is to just do our work in fairness and honesty, and when we go out on the streets, we execute our duties fairly. We are going out there to serve, protect and reassure,” he said.
He holds that Christians can be in any profession and still maintain their morale, even policing.
“People will say, ‘You’re a Christian and the Bible says thou shall not kill,’ but God calls fool but him no keep fool. I have a family, I have a wife and two daughters and a son to live for. If somebody is coming to kill you, don’t just stand up and die. If a man coming to kill me as a Christian and as a police officer, I am going to try to deal with him first.”
“I will not just stand by and let anybody kill me and take me away from my family just like that.”
He said, however, that many policemen and women struggle with their faith in such a dangerous career.
“I have come across several police officers who are Christians and are having problems in their Christian life. I have to assist them. I sat them down and counselled them, too. Just by talking to them, I helped them.”
“I always tell people that I will not sit back and let anybody come and take my life. I will not sit and be a fool … I am not going out there to kill people just like that. I’m not just going out there to shoot people. I will never do that, because I’m a child of God,” Francis said.