SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Glen Samuels is urging media organisations to refrain from placing criminals in the limelight.

“I believe that criminal elements take the time to see if their names will appear in the papers or their pictures someplace because that is maybe the only publicity they will ever have. We must starve them from ever seeing themselves on the headlines while we work assiduously to root them out of this country,” Samuels said.

“The sad thing is that sometimes we spend more time highlighting criminal elements rather than underlining the good deeds and fine qualities of those who serve us with integrity and professional high standards,” Samuels added.

The man of the cloth who was yesterday delivering the sermon at the memorial service for the late head of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA), Deputy Superintendent of Police Herfa Beckford, was strident in his recommendation for the media to highlight members serving with distinction and integrity in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

“I wonder that could it be that rather than just at funeral services, could we once per quarter, either in the Gleaner or the Observer, anywhere in the public media, highlight the commendable qualities of these persons in the force who are persons of the highest quality that these lands can boast,” Samuels said.

Scores of mourners flocked the Foot Print Seventh-day Adventist Church in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland to attend the funeral service of the late policewoman.

There were glowing tributes for the late heroic female cop, who, while she was five months’ pregnant with the second of her two children, challenged two armed robbers, one of whom was killed in a shoot-out that ensued.

During her tribute, Director of Public Prosecution Paula Llewelyn hailed the late cop as a thorough investigator who “left no stone unturned”.

“As an investigator you could count on her for literally everything, literally everything. She personifies resourcefulness, effectiveness, and overall competence in all her investigations including sexual offence matters,” Llewelyn said.

Meanwhile, former Commissioner of Police Lucius Thomas, said that she was “not easily shaken”.

Among the mourners were family members friends, scores of JCF members, led by Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington and Central Westmoreland Member of Parliament Roger Clarke.

Beckford, 43, passed away suddenly at hospital last month from what relatives described as medical complications.

She is survived by her two children Marcel and Shanae Sinclair.