Detective Inspector Pilmar Powell Making Good on Pledge to Transform Lives

On entering the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) as a young constable in 1995, Detective Inspector Pilmar Powell was entreated by her mother to use her role to make a positive impact on the lives of young people.

She tells JIS News that she used every opportunity while carrying out her daily duties to fulfil that promise.

From her work in the Family Court, which was one of her first assignments after graduating from the Police Academy, to spearheading training and academic support initiatives for young people in the Kingston Western Police Division, Detective Inspector Powell blends her work with social and professional transformation.

She tells JIS News that in 2018, while undertaking operations in Kingston Western, which was under a State of Public Emergency (SOE), she engaged in “psychosocial discussions” with the men, women and children who came into the forward operation base, and during those interactions, she recognised the need for skills training.

She obtained the necessary application forms from the HEART/NSTA Trust to enrol young people in a special programme being undertaken through partnership with the Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) initiative.

Detective Inspector Powell developed a strong relationship with the young people, who would visit her at the operations base. “They call me Miss Powell,” she recalls.

In 2020, when COVID-19 forced the closure of school plants and learning moved online.

Inspector Powell discovered that some children were not accessing the remote classes due to lack of a device or internet service.

After making contact with the Education Ministry, printed worksheets were distributed to students across several communities in the division, to enable them to keep up with their schoolwork.

Detective Inspector Powell shares that the experience opened her eyes, heart and ears to the needs of others.

She says she discovered that “we have some brilliant children” who just needed special support to realise their potential.

The Meadowbrook High School past student, in outlining her years of service to the JCF, says she was first assigned to the Kingston Central Police Station where she got the opportunity to work in the courts, particularly the Family Court, where she was engaged in preparing records for cases.

She tells JIS News that her thoroughness in putting the records together gained her the moniker ‘Inspector Document’.

“Kingston Central gave you that opportunity to work at all the courts. In the mornings we… were briefed before going to the court. It built me, getting those cases,” the Inspector shares.

Later, she moved to St. Andrew Central Police Division where she was part of the special operations squad.

“Being on the team, you have to have a nerve of steel. I was the only female on the squad, then the CIB (Criminal Investigation Branch) spotted me, and they said they like my work ethic,” she states.

Detective Inspector Powell says she learned a lot from the senior officers, who held her hand through cases. “We had some stalwarts in the CIB, who taught us how to investigate matters,” she notes.

For five years, Miss Powell was the only female detective at the CIB, where she mainly dealt with the sexual offences as well as fraud matters. She was promoted to corporal while at the Division.

“So, I made my name… every lawyer knew Pilmar Powell because I was going to the High Court and the Supreme Court, and the experience moulded me. When you talk about investigation and investigative techniques, it was St. Andrew Central CIB; that was my training ground.

“It is the hub of the financial sector, so you are meeting the people uptown, you are meeting the people in the middle class, you are meeting the people downtown as well, so you have to know how to navigate and deal with them,” she points out.

She was soon transferred to the Narcotics Division and later the Organised Crime Investigation Division.

While serving in organsed crime, Detective Inspector Powell tells JIS News that she dealt with “intense and complex cases”, under the tutelage of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) McArthur Sutherland and the former Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Fitz Bailey.

She was tasked in formulating training programmes, including a postgraduate course in counter-terrorism strategic management.

Detective Inspector Powell, who is now part of the leadership at the St. Catherine North Police Division, is proud of her 30 years in the JCF and the impact she has made.

“I can say this. The Jamaica Constabulary Force has spent a lot of money on me to be trained locally and abroad, and this training, the knowledge that has been imparted to me, I am passing it on now to the generation that is coming in,” she states.

Commander of the Area Five Police Division, Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Christopher Phillips (left), who is former Head of the St. Catherine North Police Division, shares that the Detective Inspector is one of the “very reliable, innovative thinkers that you could have in your community, initiating community activities that target at-risk youth, focusing on areas having to do with mental health,” he tells JIS News.

Adding that they still work together on several programmes, the ACP states that Detective Inspector Powell has much more to offer the JCF, given her vast knowledge and experience.

He hails her as a “true team player” who understands how to “dig deep into the needs of the various communities where she is assigned”.

“When you look at the progress we have made over the years, we recognise that we are going to need even more officers who understand the entire principle of community-based policing and its application right across the spectrum.

“We need innovative thinkers, persons who are creative, and persons who really understand that community-based philosophy, and I think she has a good grasp of that and has done well for herself and for the organisation,” ACP Phillips asserts.