We are Better Together - Newsletter October 2022

From jumping out of helicopters and chasing drug smugglers over rocky shores, to being a detective investigating major crime in Jamaica, Andrew Bennett has had an actionpacked career so far.

But just as rewarding to him as catching a criminal, he’s now finding success getting the community to talk to police in Gloucester.

One of the city’s Police Community Support Officers, Andrew Bennett has a wealth of experience to draw upon.

At the age of 22 he joined Jamaica Force Constabulary, where he underwent training and graduated in 1999.

He spent two years as a local constable, before joining the narcotics division as a narcotics agent based in Kingston.

The specialised section dealt with drugs offences, and any day or night he could find himself being asked to go in a helicopter to the far region of the island, and search drug smugglers’ boats.

Andrew recalled one of the more interesting jobs he was deployed to and said: “I was on a helicopter and we were chasing a go-fast boat, these boats come from Colombia.

“They have massive engines and go very fast, and smugglers would use them to smuggle cocaine from Colombia, South America to Jamaica.

“Because Jamaica is a channel shipment point the drugs would come from Colombia to Jamaica, and then they leave Jamaica to the UK, America or other parts of the world.

“So we were chasing this go-fast boat from out at sea and it came to a rocky shore and the guy jumped off it barefooted on these very pointed rocks and proper legged it.

“The helicopter team came down, we jumped off, and these were proper sharp rocks. I was in my boots and I’m feeling it, and this guy was barefooted.”

The team pursued the offender, but he managed to get away and was dealt with at a later time.

Andrew had wanted to be in the army from a young age and follow in his father’s footsteps, but as he grew up he realised it was not for him.

He had always liked the police uniform, and has had several different roles in both Jamaica and England, with his current one being as a PCSO covering the Barton and Tredworth areas of Gloucester.

After spending eight years as a narcotics agent, in 2008 he went to work as a detective investigating major crimes including murder, shootings and robberies in the St. Andrew South Division in Kingston.

Being trained as a firearms officer is part of everyone’s initiation to the force, as gun crime is an issue on the Caribbean island similar to that of knife crime in the UK.

Andrew said: “On Monday morning you could walk in all dressed up in your nice clothes, shirt and tie, proper shoes and all that, and then be told there’s a body been found in some deep ravine or wherever, and you as a local detective have to go there and take charge of the initial investigation. So you could be there all day in quite gruelling conditions.

“I think the main thing we have in Jamaica in some areas is organised crime, gun crime, and that can take up a lot of resources.

“Unlike here where we have knife crime, in Jamaica we have more gun crimes, and that’s a major issue in pockets of Jamaican society so you get a lot of resources being thrown into areas where you have loads of murders and stuff like that.

“It can be quite taxing for the police workforce because sometimes you see all sorts of gruesome scenes.

“I’ve seen some of my colleagues die in the line of duty, and then again I’ve seen where police have rescued so many people also too.

“That feeling that you get when you’re able to create a difference for a community member or somebody, makes you feel this is why I do this job.”

Andrew, aged 45, was born in the parish of St. Elizabeth, an agricultural region in the middle of Jamaica.

He left the island in 2014, and travelled to England where his wife had been residing.

Andrew continued to work in a role which involved the community, and worked as a carer in a care home for people living with learning disabilities.

After that he worked in the NHS in a mental health hospital in Stroud, which supported people with a wide array of mental health related issues.

Even though he soon returned to policing, Andrew still works as a healthcare assistant part-time.

He said: “I like working with people with learning disabilities. Working as a PCSO I come across a lot of persons suffering from mental issues too, so that role links in.

“Working with a person with learning difficulties is about having patience, understanding and communication. That’s one of the main things.

“Understanding that person’s communication method, and also the patience to take time out for them to understand what you are saying or what they are trying to say.

“And working in communities is all about that, communication and patience.”

Policing has always been Andrew’s main role and it comes naturally to him - during the early stages of the pandemic he starting working in Gloucestershire Constabulary’s Better Together team on recruitment and diversity.

He said: “When I started there in my opinion there wasn’t much in terms of diversity work being done within Gloucestershire Constabulary then, so I think when Sandra [Sandra Samuel, Better Together manager] came on and that team formed, it started to make a difference.

“There’s still a lot to do, but I think leaps and bounds has been done since then.”

Following his work in the Better Together team, Andrew ended up recruiting himself back into a uniformed role, and started as a PCSO in May 2021, working in Gloucester.

He said: “Within Gloucester there’s not a lot of people looking like me within the Constabulary so you know, I think when they see me people realise ‘oh, I can be like him, I can come and join’.

PCSOs are people with knowledge and experiences, some of the people here have Masters...

“Black people in general, or people from diverse backgrounds, don’t really trust the police. So I’m saying rather than staying on the outside and saying you don’t trust, come on board and see if you can cause some change from within.

“It takes some time. Talking to people in the community you’ll see it’s getting better, there is still far to go, but it’s getting better than what it was even two or three years ago.

“Someone from Jamaica would ask ‘why would you want to join the police over here?’, and I would say ‘why not?’

“Why would I not want to join the police over here where you can see me and feel comfortable in talking to me as opposed to somebody who doesn’t look like you or anything.

“When he came out he came across a bit passionate about what he was saying, but having that conversation with him, I was able to show him my side of the story.

“And since then, whenever he sees me we say hello and we talk. So it’s all about having that communication and that conversation so you can change the narrative.

“That’s what the role of PCSOs do - you’re open and people should feel comfortable in talking to you and also as the police, it doesn’t matter if the person is passionate or angry or whatever.

“You should be willing to have a conversation with them and try and show them from your point of view, it works. They change their whole narrative.”

The role of a PSCO is a diverse one – you are part of the community, meeting people, helping with welfare issues, attending community events, working with partners, and sometimes a PCSO is the first point of contact for someone speaking to police about an issue.

Andrew said: “Once you see where your input has caused somebody to change a life or even just answer a question for them, that’s rewarding in itself.

“Because we live in a society nowadays where people are so anti-social and they don’t really talk to people, and if you can, especially in uniform, where people sometimes are not really open to you, and they come and talk to you, that’s rewarding in itself.

“I think PCSOs are still looked upon as though they are not proper police, from the public and also even within the Force sometimes.

“PCSOs are people with knowledge and experiences, some of the people here have Masters and a wealth of knowledge from different roles.

“They have got skills and they choose to do this role because not everybody wants to have arresting powers. More regards should be paid to PCSOs.

“Not everybody has the right attitude to become a police officer, you have to have the right skillset to be a PCSO.

“Where some police officers may have this preconceived notion about some people, as a PCSO you shouldn’t have that.

“Forget about ego, egos in policing will get you in trouble. Everyone in the police should treat each person how you would want to be treated.”