Emotion was high at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel ballroom on Tuesday as fallen cops were remembered by their colleagues and families in a treat hosted by Police Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake.

The annual luncheon was like a family gathering and Commissioner Blake said as much, earning nods of agreement from the grieving families whose children were the main focus of attention.

“It’s a good feeling, I appreciate everything that they are doing,” Donisha Watson told the Jamaica Observer as she held her son, Ricardo Richards.

The boy’s father, who was also named Ricardo Richards, died of a brain tumour last month.

“He was constantly crying for headaches and it started affecting his eyes. When he went to the doctor he found out it was brain tumour,” Watson said, wiping tears from her eyes.

Talitha Miller, who with late Detective Sergeant Kevin Mayne shares a daughter, Keyerramae, broke down in tears as she shared how her child was coping with the loss.

“In the first two months it was hard, because every night before she went to sleep she would ask for him, but then after a while she would speak like in memory of him because she understands that he’s not coming back. Sometimes it gets her down; it’s on and off [for her],” Miller told the Observer.

Detective Sergeant Mayne was shot dead at the Half-Way-Tree Police Station in St Andrew by a man who was being escorted from the nearby court by another policeman in July this year.

Miller expressed appreciation for the gesture from the constabulary.

“I really appreciate it because it makes my daughter see and know that they actually cared about her father, and also that they want to care for her well-being,” she said.

“I haven’t seen her smile as much in a while, so this is a very great gesture,” the mother added.

Atavia Lee, whose spouse, Constable Renardo Spence, died in a motor vehicle crash in St Catherine in February this year, was equally grateful to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

“I think it’s a good gesture by the commissioner,” she said. “At first I was nervous and emotional but I am so happy that Renardo was a part of the JCF because his department, the Spanish Town Traffic Department, they have been Kijani’s family from his father died.”

She said her late spouse’s colleagues have been keeping in touch with her and her son, ensuring that he is at school and that he is doing well.