REJECTED!
Dismissed wounding charge killing Andre’s dream of becoming a cop
FROM A young age, Andre Taylor* made his career choice; he wanted to become a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).
In pursuit of his dream, the now 23-year-old has applied to join the JCF four times without being accepted, but he remains hopeful that soon he will get the call to join the men and women who are sworn to serve and protect.
“It’s a life goal. I watched my father as a police officer and I want to follow his footsteps,” Taylor told
The Sunday Gleaner.
Taylor grew up with his father and brother in Kingston after his mother migrated to the United States of America when he was five years old.
According to Taylor, with his dream of becoming a cop, he did his best in high school and scored grade ones and twos in the five subjects, including mathematics and English, which he sat in external exams. He then enrolled at the HEART Trust/NTA and earned a NCTVET certification.
The father of one first applied to join the JCF in 2015; however, in that year he was involved in an altercation and was hit with a wounding charge.
“I was attacked by a group of guys while going out with my partner on a Friday night. I defended myself and caused a wound to the head of one of the attackers. He is the child of a police officer, so his father had him file a report.
“My father, who is also a police officer, tried reasoning with his colleague but he would not budge. I filed a report as well and the matter went to court. The case prolonged for two years by which time the other individual decided not to come to court, so the case was thrown out,” said Taylor.
He again applied to join the JCF in 2016 and 2017, and was rejected on both occasions, leaving him convinced that he is being blocked from the force because of the wounding charge that was levelled against him despite a letter from the court stating that he was never convicted of a crime.
Taylor said last year he submitted a fourth application to the JCF. This time he sat and passed the written examination and reached the stage of the background check, which was when he was told he would be rejected.
“I tried speaking to the head recruiting officer but she refused to speak to me, so that’s how far it went. I wasn’t convicted and I don’t have a criminal record. Is it fair for me to be rejected even though generally I have done nothing wrong?” questioned Taylor.
He was dismissive of persons who, he said, have suggested that he should try another profession, and argued that they do not understand his drive and passion to serve his country.
“Why should I give up on a dream without any clear reasons? Values and principles are what the society lack now, without it we just keep heading downwards,” said Taylor.
“The JDF (Jamaica Defence Force), JFB (Jamaica Fire Brigade), have the same no-criminal-record policy, so if I was rejected by the JCF for this stupid reason, then it means I cannot apply to those either,” said Taylor.
When The Sunday Gleaner contacted the commandant of The Jamaica Police Academy, Superintendent Merrick Watson, he said while he’s not aware of this particular case, a person doesn’t have to have a criminal record for him to be deemed unsuitable to join the JCF.
“An investigation is done. An individual goes into the community and they would enquire of his behaviour and so on, and so forth. So it is possible that while he was not convicted for the incident, other issues, either supporting or surrounding the issue, could have been unearthed by the investigating officer,” said Watson.
He added that the lack of conviction would not be all, as there are other factors that must be take into consideration.
“Even when they come in training, we tell them that the investigation is continuing. We have separated individuals from training because of things that were picked up after they actually got here.
“There are times when individuals will inform us that, ‘Hey, I heard that so and so is in training, but guess what, you need to check this out,’ and when we check it out it was grave enough to prevent us from continuing with that person,” said Watson. *Name changed on request.