Corporal Shantel Powell was named the 2025 LASCO/Jamaica Constabulary Drive (JCF) Police of the 12 months, with Sergeant Rojehn Holt inserting second. The winners had been revealed on the Saluting Our Heroes Awards ceremony on Wednesday.
The annual LASCO Saluting Our Heroes programme recognises excellent service, management, and dedication to public security and neighborhood improvement throughout the JCF’s divisions. Powell, from Space 5, was chosen from six finalists, together with Constable Monique Bartley (Space 1), Corporal Stephen Smith (Space 2), Detective Corporal Chadrick Williams (Space 4), and Detective Corporal Livey Evans (non-geographic formation). Holt represents Space 3.
Commissioner Dr. Kevin Blake introduced that each one six finalists had been promoted:
- Powell and Bartley to corporal
- Smith, Holt, and Williams to sergeant
- Evans to detective sergeant
Powell’s journey from Copperwood, Clarendon, because the sixteenth youngster in a household of 17, has been marked by resilience. Regardless of poverty and marginalisation, she pursued larger schooling, attending Edwin Allen Excessive Faculty and the College of Expertise, Jamaica, incomes a level in forensics.
Earlier than becoming a member of the JCF in July 2021, Powell labored as a chemistry trainer at Cornwall School in Montego Bay. She cited a want to mix her skilled expertise along with her ardour for public engagement, talking at faculties, church buildings, and neighborhood occasions to empower others.
Reflecting on her upbringing, Powell credited her mom’s unwavering assist and prayers:
“My mother by no means stopped pushing and praying… At the moment, we really are fruits of that prayer and devoted mom that we’ve in Miss Gloria Powell.”
Her story is a testomony to perseverance, dedication, and repair, inspiring colleagues and the broader neighborhood alike.
