SAVANNA-LA-MAR, WESTMORELAND — Last year she was first runner up, but this year Sergeant Nadine Grant-Brown took home the top prize after she beat out 28 other police officers across the island for the honour of being named Lasco Police Officer of the Year.

She is the first woman to take the coveted prize over the three years of the competition.

“It is an inner feeling that I can’t describe. It’s a … feeling that makes you feel like a patriot,” she told the Observer during a recent interview.

Her selection came as no surprise to members of the Westmoreland community, who first recognised that she was a cut above the rest and got her through the first round of elimination at the parish level. It is a relationship that has developed over the years, as they have come to know and love her through her work with the children and the elderly via the force’s community relations department.

But despite her success, a career in law enforcement was not Grant-Brown’s first love. She had wanted to excel in the field of fashion designing, which she entered after graduating from the Glengoffe Secondary School in St Catherine.

However, after that career path failed to satisfy her, Grant-Brown said she remembered an urge that had developed during her teenage years, after a career talk at Glengoffe. It was there that she was first presented with the idea of pursuing a career as an officer of the law. She finally listened to her heart, went to Duke Street and took the test and was accepted.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Grant-Brown eventually joined the Jamaica Constabulary Force in May of 1990 and by the following year, was sent to Savanna-la-mar, Westmoreland to serve the community. She was later transferred to the Corporate Area but returned in 1993 and has been serving at the Savanna-la-mar police station ever since.

She has been active in the parish since 1991, and area residents have embraced her as one of their own. Now she has won the coveted top prize not just for herself but for the parish of Westmoreland that she now loves and proudly calls home.

But it was not love at first sight.

When she first came to the parish in the early 1990s, Grant-Brown said she was disappointed at the lack of activities for young people and thought educational opportunities were limited. However, she said the parish had improved by leaps and bounds over the years she now has serious plans to establish her home there.

At the same time, Grant-Brown noted that there is still one vital ingredient missing — an adult educational learning centre where illiterate adults can receive help.

Grant-Brown said that in her line of work, she has come across adults who are unable to read and write, a situation that is of grave concern to her and one that she longs to see rectified.

But even as she longs to see this aspect of the parish developed, the 34-year-old cop does what she can in the community–buoyed by the strength and support she receives from her husband and fellow cop, sergeant Harry Brown and their four children.

As part of the job, she focuses mainly on peer counselling for police officers who have experienced traumatic situations and need emotional support. This demanding job, she said, is made easier by the training she received in the area of counselling, evidenced by her more than 15 certificates, and proof of participation in several other courses and seminars.

This year’s top cop is also trained to intervene and mediate in situations involving domestic violence and she is actively involved in community policing.

The Lasco award has not been her first honour. Her numerous awards include recognition for outstanding work by the House of Representatives in Massachusetts, USA.

A highly devoted Christian, Grant-Brown is a member of two of the force’s religious groups — the Association of Christian Peace Officers and Cop for Christ, which is an outreach ministry.

Still humble despite being so widely recognised, she acknowledged the hard work of those whom she had beat out of the top cop award.

“We are all top cops,” she remarked. “My being the selected top cop doesn’t mean that I’m the only one, we should all look at ourselves as top cops.”

She also had words of caution for her colleagues, especially those who, through their actions, have brought the force into disrepute.

“Do your work with integrity and professionalism. The best way to respond to wrong is to do what is right,” she said.

Grant-Brown also expressed concern about the current levels of crime and violence in the country and appealed to criminal elements to change their ways.

“Remember your mother, spouse and children. Jamaica belongs to all of us and it is our duty to make Jamaica peaceful. There is no safe haven for criminal elements, the long arm of the law will catch up with you,” she warned.

“There are no real gun men. The deceased have spoken. The first life to protect is yours and if you give it away you will lose it. Stop the killing, hand in the gun and save your lives,” she added.