‘Her decision not to fall into the stereotypical female leader “let the country see me as the caring, mother of the nation, who will unite us all through love and kumbayas” role has impressed me’
THERE is a deep chill in the air. It has nothing to do with weather patterns, it has to do with that deep mean stare our newly appointed Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher wears on her face.
Erla doesn’t look like she playing y’all. Homegirl looks like she is ready to lay down some licks and if yuh don’t like it, pee and go in your bed.
Harewood-Christopher, who was sworn in on Friday, doesn’t have an easy road ahead of her. She is our nations first female Commissioner of Police and has been appointed during a time our crime situation is spiraling out of control.
Given our current social climate and the public mistrust in our law enforcement systems, Harewood-Christopher has a lot to prove and is a prime target for criticism.
Days before she was actually sworn in she was criticised for missing an event at Rose Hill Primary School, Laventille, and a Joint Select Committee meeting on National Security. Her reasoning was she was dealing more pressing matters of national security.
So people are now wondering are we dealing with another magically invisible public leader like our former president Paula-Mae Weekes or are we dealing with a woman who gives zero Frogs Under Carriage Kisses (foul language loopholes!) about having a cuddly public persona and stroking the egos of politicians?
Are we dealing with a sleeper figure or a dragon lady?
Personally, I am willing to give her a shot. It takes a hell of a lot of ovarian fortitude to be a woman in a predominately male-dominated field of such national importance. Her decision not to fall into the stereotypical female leader “let the country see me as the caring, mother of the nation, who will unite us all through love and kumbayas” role has impressed me.
She really doesn’t seem to care about having people like her and I respect that.
She has also shown she isn’t afraid of making tough decisions when it comes to dealing with her police force. She did not hesitate to suspend the officer filmed allegedly abusing a traffic warden last week. It may have seemed like a no-brainer, but let’s be honest we live in a country where officials tend to dilly dally on making difficult decisions regarding their workforce or sector that may make them “unpopular.”
Nope, not my girl Erla, she was still in the position of acting and was like, “Homie, pack yuh bags and ride home.” Hopefully, it won’t turn into a lifelong, suspension with pay, but we shall see.
Harewood-Christopher got a lot of Suzie Hiccups Into Teacups (tada!) for not attending the JSC meeting. Now while it is important for her to attend these things, she hadn’t even been officially sworn in as yet and probably figured her time would be best spent organising her plans of action rather than sitting in what have become pointless meetings where state entities and ministries give a bunch of excuses, reveal how incompetent they are, let us know how much taxpayer money magically goes missing, everyone acts all outraged and shocked when they all know nothing will be done.
If I was a headline reader and shotgun commenter I would probably have joined in the she’s a “PNM puppet” or “Watch a next Weekes” crowd of morons after the Express chose the headline “ERLA COPS OUT” on Thursday, but I read the article and this is what caught my attention.
At the JSC meeting, both ACP Criminal Division Winston Maharaj and Acting DCP Intelligence and Investigations Curt Simon indicated that Harewood-Christopher had been active in rolling out different plans and approaches to dealing with crime.
Simon said she had recently provided the various police divisions with mandates and figures for crime reductions they need to uphold. Both Maharaj and Simon admitted the TTPS had not been handling the crime situation very well but were confident that under the systems being put in place and mandates established by Harewood-Christopher, we should see a reduction in crime.
That’s right, she may not be hugging babies or playing political high-fives, but she appears to be working. So, there is some hope.
COP Erla Harewood-Christopher scares me a bit. The reason being, as a woman, I know we bad and we even badder when we have to prove ourselves and the way Erla posturing, she may be the baddest.
So fingers crossed, toes crossed, fallopian tubes crossed, that our new COP will hopefully make us feel safe again, will make us feel confident in law enforcement, will kick some ass and take actually names rather than empty “Mr Big” ole talk.
COP Erla Harewood-Christopher, hats off, bras off to you! Make us ladies proud, make our nation prouder.
Totally in agreement with COP on her decision to focus on the important issues she was dealing with. There was nothing new that parliamentary committee could provide her to assist her with the serious crime issues before the country. She was selected after a rigorous process which identified her as the most competent person for the job. And she is well aware of the crime issues.