Cynthia's top cop in Central

Who is the best woman police officer  in Central Trinidad? Cynthia Romeo is, and she’s grinning from ear to ear.

If you don’t know who she is, she’s this year’s winner of the Collymore Challenge Trophy for being the Most Outstanding Female Police Officer for 2003. By receiving this award she joins the ranks of past winners WP Lystra Sebro and last year’s winner, WP Michelle Parris. It was a starry-eyed Romeo that received her accolades in a ceremony that took place in Couva at the Auditorium of Super Industrial Services Limited. The evening’s theme, entitled “Positioning Women for the Global Age 2020,” was fitting, as it was all about positive changes for the future. It was clearly a night where the women police ruled supreme, for there were many awards given out that night. Tuition gift certificates courtesy Keith Beckles (to LLB and A level participants), a course in forensic science, management scholarships, make overs and beauty treatments, trophies and more were handed out to women police in numerous categories, such as Miss Productivity (WP Edward-Ali), Most Outstanding SRP (WP Prescod), Fittest WP (WP Williams) and Best Shot (WP Beckles-Gordon). But the best was saved for last when Romeo received her challenge trophy, gift hampers and a scholarship to attend the Cipriani Labour College to pursue a course in Security Management.

So what exactly goes into being judged the “top cop” in the entire Central Division? According to Romeo, it’s her belief that being a mother of three, plus her stint earlier on as a pre-school teacher were key in shaping her into the woman she is now. Her career (in the service) is a young one, she only joined the force in 1998 and is currently attached to the Chaguanas Police Station. “Okay, there were certain other criteria to fulfil,” she laughed. “To even be considered with the others, our seniors were looking at our leadership qualities, plus they looked at your working abilities, how you deal with the public and so on. So it’s important that you have effective communication skills.” Being a mother to two young sons and a daughter certainly gave her a lot of practice in communicating, but Romeo’s skills go way beyond that. Her heart is deeply rooted in the community she helps watch over, and she wasn’t hesitant to speak of things she would like to see happen within the Police Service. “Personally, I would like to see more women come into the service,” she said softly. “But it’s a bit difficult... not because of the crime situation, but because of the fact that women aren’t promoted as quickly as they should be. “Unfortunately, the service doesn’t attract many women to it. Our numbers are already small, there are about 30-odd women in the entire Central Division alone and we definitely need to address this. As a group we all work together and we do our best to empower ourselves as women to work alongside our male counterparts, becoming even more efficient and effective at our jobs.”

Becoming a policewoman was entirely her own decision, which she made based on the need to educate, something she has been doing since her time at Servol. “It was never a case of having family in the work and them telling me, ‘Ay gyul, yuh should come and join police, yuh know?’ Truth be told, I found more relatives after I came in! She laughed. What really drove me to this vocation was that I’m originally from Tobago and when I looked around my community, I saw a need for education in the area of security, so I basically joined the service so I could teach people how to keep themselves safe. Crime isn’t that high in Tobago, but I always believed in education; if you’re educated, you have a trump card, literally.” Now that she is the current holder of this title, her work has just begun. Romeo will be continuing the good work by giving lectures and making visits to schools and other institutions, talking with parents and the elderly. She may be a young policewoman, but she takes her work very seriously. In fact, she wants to encourage women to join the service so they can make their contribution. “I should hope that with the promotions system being evaluated, you will see more women rising to the top besides the men,” she said. “When the young hopefuls are looking into policing as a career they will be able to see the achievements of their sisters; this should stir them to come and join the service.” If you’re curious about where she’s putting her trophy... “It’s going someplace where I can see it every day and can go towards it with a smile,” she laughed.