Sergeant Andrew Williams Giving Back to the Community

Sergeant Andrew Williams is described as the policeman who cannot stop giving, but his story has a much deeper and far more painful beginning that he now uses to help others.

He serves in the Community Safety and Security Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), a path he selected as it directly aligned to his core values of service.

Sergeant Williams’ positive attitude, cheerful and giving spirit was almost cut short at the age of 12, when a tumultuous home life made him consider doing the unthinkable.

“When I was 12 years old, I attempted to take my own life. At the time, I didn’t feel as if I had an outlet for my thoughts and emotions. I felt as though I was alone in this world. I felt as though I simply was not enough; despite my attempts to get that affection, I just did not see it happening,” he said.

“I had just picked up my report from high school and in picking up my report at the time it was not satisfactory, and I remember getting a fine beating. The words, ‘yuh worthless, yuh good for nothing, yuh will turn out to nothing’, riveted and rang out in my head. I think when those words again were repeated, it’s when I decided enough was enough and I attempted to do it,” he added.

Seargeant Williams credits finding his true purpose to the intervention of police officers, while he attended Eltham High School in St. Catherine.

“I needed a level of guidance and mentorship, and there were police officers within the school tasked to do what we call the School Resource Officer Programme, and it was through that programme, that I was reached,” he stated.

He noted that the policemen, Marvin Franklin and Cyril Francis saw his leadership skills and helped him to see it as well.

“I was able to have more self-belief [and] understanding that there’s more to life than what I thought. It helped me to become a stronger person and just to accept and realise that there was a purpose for my life,” Sergeant Williams said.

From that encounter in high school, he decided to join the JCF, as he believed he could help other teens who struggled with challenges that he once had.

“I just thought that being a police officer, if they can reach me, it means that I will then be given a platform to reach others as well,” he stated.

Sergeant Williams has been in the JCF for 14 years and works very closely with the Ministry of National Security’s anti-violence campaign ‘Liv Gud’.

He also serves as a motivational speaker with the team and has created his foundation, ‘Positive Initiative’, which is designed to inspire and uplift persons who are at risk or are shut-ins.

“In my job, I am able to go across the island and make presentations on various topics, be it motivation [or] speaking on violence in schools. Recently, I was able to speak at the Ministry’s Liv Gud function. Through this programme, there were two students who were named Mini Ambassadors; I remember speaking to them years ago and instilling that value of kindness,” he noted.

“When you are able to make presentation to youngsters and then you’re able to see that they understood, and they put into practice what you spoke to them about, it’s one of the most rewarding things. It tells me that I am doing something good on a daily basis,” Sergeant Williams said.

While giving of his time, Sergeant Williams also takes a portion of his salary every month to create care packages for persons in need.

This action is what led to the creation of his Foundation in 2012.

“We try to impact persons who are less fortunate financially, and to the persons who are not having financial challenges we try to see what level of motivation we can give to them. The first programme we had was in 2014 where we had an awards ceremony on the avenue in Cooreville Gardens where we awarded youngsters,” he stated.

He explained that those youngsters were shown that they need not be someone at risk for the community to show them love and support, while adding that those young persons were able to do well academically and in turn went on to also assist others in need.

“I’m happy where I am now at the Community Safety and Security Branch because I can go into schools, and I can try to find ‘me’ or somebody who is facing challenges. I give the students my number so they can reach out to me,” he said.

“I have this thing where I help them remove the negative narratives by creating auto suggestions, similar to how we use our phone. I help them to replace the negative thoughts with a positive auto suggestion, it is just a wonderful opportunity that I am able to help them,” the policeman said.

The newly minted Sergeant says he loves working in the JCF, as he can provide assistance and that “in becoming a police officer, it gives me the opportunity to get to students and let them know there is another way and there are outlets; you don’t have to get to that path”.

Sergeant Williams also pointed out that the men and women in the Force are citizens like everyone, facing the same challenges.

“We are giving you our best, even while facing the same issues with life, but when we put this uniform on, we are reminded that we took an oath to serve and protect you, irrespective of what is happening with us,” he notes.

“When dealing with the police officers understand that we are also going through challenges, but we will put our best foot forward to show you the best level of professionalism,” Sergeant Williams added.