Sandra dedicated to serving her community

GOODWOOD, Tobago, has served as the nurturing ground for one of the most profound and pro-active voices in Community Development and youth guidance in TT. The impact of her work can be seen throughout TT. Woman Police Constable Sandra Marlene Orr has redefined the term community policing. “Many young people think that they aren’t listened to. The work that my colleagues and myself were involved in gave them an avenue, a necessary form of encouragement,” said the Tobago-born Sandra. “The community programmes took on a multi-disciplinary approach; we integrated the contributions of the police, doctors, social workers, lawyers and families of the youths involved. In certain areas which we targetted, the youths had developed a certain level of hostility toward the police and these programmes gave them an appreciation of the work the police do and the fact that it is out of love and aimed at helping, not hurting them.”

The netball player and three-time Roxborough Composite School Calypso Monarch  and sister of gospel singer Eastlyn Orr, had an inner tension, which led her to admire the contributions of the police in the communities which they served. “At 17, I went to the police and found out about the requirements to get a job in the service. I loved to see the service of, and the respect for police officers in the country. At the time they were recruiting and I applied and went through all the preparations but they told me that I was ineligible, as I wasn’t 18 as yet. I cried and cried because they had my hopes up,” Sandra said. She eventually gained employment at the Scarborough Health Centre as a clerk and later became a trainee nurse at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital in 1984. Her fate took a favourable twist after five months.

“While training I was contacted to commence training at the Police Training College. I didn’t even think about it. I just packed up and left the hospital. By May of 1984 I was in a batch of recruits which had just 15 women out of approximately 100 and I was the only female from Tobago.” Being a part of a male-dominated group of recruits in a male-dominated profession did she expect or experience high levels of male bias and discrimination? The assertive officer replied: “Yes the profession is male-dominated. I never felt discriminated against by my counterparts or superiors. However, I did feel that I was overlooked for certain positions like becoming a detective or working in the Criminal Investigations Department.” The question seems to have stirred up latent dissatisfaction in Sandra’s mind, as she said in a now aggressive tone, “After 20 years I’m still a constable. In Jamaica or Barbados I would be an assistant superintendent or an inspector by now. My qualifications far surpass many of my superiors.”

She returned to her customary jovial tone and continued: “After graduating I was attached to the Scarborough Police Station and did mainly charge room duties, patrols and looked after female prisoners,  child victims and offenders. Now the number of female officers has increased but then we would be working around the clock if there was a prisoner at the hospital and at the station or something of that nature. There is a lot of talk of reform now but then it was tough being a woman police.” In 1990, Sandra was deeply involved in the establishment of the now extensive Police Youth Club network. Through a collaborative effort with the then constable, now Sgt Collis Hazel, Sandra founded and led the Roxborough Police Youth Club that year and later did the same at Crown Point Police Station to which she was transferred in 1993. The community loving and progressive-minded Sandra went on to seek unprecedented achievements in her profession.

“I was granted a government scholarship in 1995 and began social work courses at St Augustine, to get a B.Sc. in social work. When I graduated in 1998 I returned to the Community Policing Unit, Scarborough Police Station and at the time, incidents of domestic abuse, domestic violence and other related crimes were on the rise along with the strong criticism by the public of the insensitivity of the police approach in dealing with victims of these crimes,” Sandra said. She saw the need for serious community development and  held the first domestic violence seminar for police officers in Tobago with the assistance of the THA and the Tobago Police Division. “I must thank people like then Commissioner of Police Hilton Guy, my family and others for my academic success and professional development. The Commissio-ner provided the opportunity to enable me to conduct both the social work practicum and MBA research in the Police Service.”

Sandra attained a B Sc in social work, a Masters in Business Administration with specialty in human resource management, and still remains the only female officer with such qualifications. She has also gained certification for her participation in Community Police Relations, anger management, mediation, train the trainers, child sexual abuse investigation and conflict resolution. “I am as qualified as anyone but was sitting in police headquarters taking reports. It is clear that the profession didn’t accommodate the qualifications, skills and competencies I attained. I began getting very frustrated. They had me training officers in anger management and so on but it didn’t satisfy me.” Sandra took her extended leave from the  Service to join in the efforts of the Communi-ty Development Fund  of the Ministry of Com-munity Development, Culture and Gender Affairs which focuses on poverty alleviation, empowerment and development of communities through grants to NGOs and community-based organisations. She said that she has found her calling.

“It feels so good to know that I’m making a difference in people’s lives. I can sleep well every night with the knowledge that I have contributed to the betterment of society. I have parents walk up to me to tell me how well their son/daughter has done after joining one of the youth clubs which I led or the people themselves who are young adults, ‘you don’t remember me from the club?’ It’s really nice to know.” With her continuing duties as WPC and her work as Programme Officer at the CDF where does she get time to do anything for herself? “Well I spend a lot of time at work. I like to listen to a lot of music, shopping and I simply love to write. These things really help me to relax when I get the time. But what I really like to do is spend time with my daughter J’leise . Having and parenting her with the assistance of my mother who is my main inspiration, is one of my greatest achievements. I always go over to Tobago on weekends to be with her.”