KINGSTON, Jamaica – Students in the Area One Police Division are invited to submit creative illustrations for the Inaugural Transforming Our Police Service (TOPS) Poster Competition.

The contest, under the theme: ‘Imaging #aForce4Good,’ is a new feature of the Police Civilian Oversight Authority’s (PCOA)-organised programme.

This year’s TOPS programme is focussed on Area One, which comprises the parishes of Trelawny, St James, Hanover and Westmoreland.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the PCOA, Otarah Byfield-Nugent said the entity wanted to include the perspectives of young people in the TOPS process.

“It’s really about expressing their views about policing through art. You can tell us how you feel about the police, what you think the role of the police should be and how you think the police should interact with citizens. What does a force for good look like to you? Put that in a poster,” she said.

Participating students are required to upload the posters to the PCOA’s new website at www.pcoa.gov.jm by Friday, October 13, 2023, at 3:00 pm. The rules of the competition and application forms are also available on the website.

Byfield-Nugent said the winner of the competition will be announced during Police Week in November and the PCOA plans to use the posters submitted as part of its engagement with the public on policing matters.

“We want to use them to design and create a colouring book to be distributed in early childhood institutions, because it is very important to start to reinforce in the minds of our children what positive police-citizen relationship looks like,” she said.

“We also want to use them to create calendars for distribution in our different Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) formations and our major stakeholders. So, we are just reinforcing that positive image…. and how we can build that partnership between citizens and the police,” the PCOA CEO said.

–JIS