Dear Reader,

The sudden and unexpected resignation of Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green has left a lot of Jamaicans speechless, if not puzzled. From the responses, it is clear that the announcement was the last thing the country expected to hear, given the escalation in crime, and the tenuousness of the transition from one administration to the other.

People whom I talk to say that they expected the opposite to have happened. They felt that Les Green would have been here longer and that the sterling contribution he has been making to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) would be sustained.

ACP Les Green is a name that has become synonymous with competency and integrity. In a country riddled with crime, corruption, nepotism and tribalism, the presence and access to police officers who are perceived to be untainted and unbiased is significant. ACP Les Green is one such police officer, and the people of Jamaica have come to understand that.

I must admit that I for one felt that bringing a handful of British police officers to Jamaica to solve our crime problem was a monumental waste of time. How could a few men solve a problem with such deep-rooted and complex characteristics? I asked.

Les Green’s contribution and commitment has been a lesson to me in balancing and calibrating my own attitudes of cynicism and scepticism. He has proved that one man with a vision and mission can impact a whole country. Les Green’s capacity to manage his official crime-fighting portfolio, and yet find the capacity at the same time to attend to the day-to-day, individual needs of the victims of crime is exemplary, and that ability proved particularly valuable for children’s organisations and advocates like ourselves.

Les Green assimilated into the Jamaican society with ease and energy. His impressive experience as a crime fighter, trainer and administrator became evident very quickly, and in no time he mastered the dynamics and nuances of Jamaica’s crime situation. He quickly adapted to the cultural norms and realities, and in the process, endeared himself to his colleagues and to the people of Jamaica.

Over the years I have been particularly impressed with Les Green’s humility. He wasn’t inhibited or intimidated by the realities of poverty, and he treated the poor as respectfully as he treated his superiors. He carried his democratic sense of justice everywhere he went across the country, and Jamaicans from all walks of life recognised that he was approachable, even under the most difficult and contentious circumstances.

But there is another “half” to ACP Green’s story – one which most Jamaicans would not know. The other “half” is Annette Green, Les’s wife, and a woman whom my organisation and I have come to love and appreciate.

Annette Green joined her husband in Jamaica not too long after he had settled in his position with the JCF. After she arrived here, we at Hear The Children’s Cry (HTCC) received an e-mail from Annette asking if we could use her services as a volunteer. She revealed that like her husband she had served as a police officer in Britain and that she had a special concern and commitment to children and young adults. Little did we know at the time of the initial contact that we would be inviting into the organisation a multi-talented, dynamic and dedicated human being and resource person.

Annette Green’s integration into our team was seamless. It didn’t matter that she didn’t have a dedicated desk or an individual office from which to operate. Her flexibility and willingness to fit in wherever it was necessary mattered in a children’s charitable organisation with modest resources, and yet with overwhelming public demands for services and support.

Mrs Green’s experience as a former police officer with exposure to systems and strategies to tackle problems like child abuse, child trafficking, missing children, among others, proved invaluable to our organisation. Her networking skills were instrumental in enabling us to forge a relationship with the British High Commission that led to the provision of support in hosting the first and most extensive training in Jamaica for missing and abducted children. The British High Commission would sponsor two leading British experts who came to Jamaica and trained a wide cross-section of child and child-related institutions and individuals – the judiciary, law enforcement, NGOs, teachers, guidance counsellors and other critical agencies – in strategies and solutions for tackling the problem of missing and abducted children.

Soon after she began working with us, Annette Green recognised the organisation’s acute need for financial and material support, and she took on the unofficial role as fund-raiser. The organisation’s first annual charity golf tournament was almost singlehandedly organised by her, and as I write she is fully involved in the planning of a fund-raising venture for HTCC. We are extremely disappointed at the forthcoming departure from Jamaica of Les Green and his family.

While we at HTCC do not possess the power to reverse Les Green’s resignation, we do have the power to say thanks to him and his wife for their love and service to Jamaica.

With love,

bab2609@yahoo.com