Although Madonna Persaud was set on joining the police force, her family was against the idea. Persaud, 31, who says she had always admired female police officers in their uniforms, nevertheless went ahead with the decision to pursue her dream of becoming a member of the force as she felt she would not have forgiven herself had she not taken the chance.
“My family never wanted me to be a police because of me being a female and growing up quietly, they believed that others would have taken advantage on me, [that] I might be pressured to do things with males and stuff but despite all of that I held my head up high and did what I had to and today they are extremely proud of me being a police woman,” Persaud, who was recently selected to be the face of Region Six’s Traffic Department told Stabroek Weekend.
Now Police Constable # 23255, Persaud has been a member of the Guyana Police Force for five years and six months and was last month awarded for her performance thus far. She is working in the Education Section of the Traffic Department, where she is responsible for educating the region’s populace on the road laws.
Like so many before her, Persaud’s journey to becoming a police officer has been filled with both positives and negatives, which she says have moulded her into who she is today. The Sheet Anchor Village, East Canje Berbice resident is a single mother of a 10-year-old girl, who has been motivating her to overcome the challenges placed before her. “My daughter is proud to have me as a role model, a motivator, a teacher and more so a police, every little achievement I get makes her happy and proud to say my mom is a policewoman,” she noted. Persaud was, however, not always on the path to law enforcement. In 2007, after graduating from high school, she went straight into teaching at a private school. By the next year she met the man who would become the father of her daughter and she recalled that he forced her to leave her job. They eventually separated. “I [had] my daughter to maintain and no job so I felt like it was the end of the world for me but I believed in god and I believed he [would] see me through and today I’m living my best life along with my baby girl,” she said.
‘A battle’
Persaud said that after making the choice to join the force, her training to become a police officer proved to be challenging, requiring dedication and hard work. “Things that I never did at home I had to do there like waking up at 4 in the morning to go and run, one hour to shower, dress and eat then fall in for inspection, cleaning the compound in hot sun every afternoon, going over to TSU to do drills and midday training in the midday sun and waking up at 2 in the mornings to work out. When we have barrack inspection, if one female failed all of us failed. We [would] go on the seawall and they [would] have us rolling in mud and sand. But at the end of it all those things were just to make us hard, as we would say, to build our mind and courage to face the public.”
Persaud spoke highly of the training that she underwent and credited it with helping her to become an even more confident and courageous law woman and person overall. She would need every bit of it as she was deployed to enforce the road laws, which she described as a “battle.” “…It was a battle for me every day. Sometimes when I [would] go out there to work the things that drivers would say, they would call me names, they will curse, all sorts of things. It [would] make me feel like I wanna give back that uniform and go home but I said none of them… gave me this job and none of them will take it from me so I ignored [them],” she said, while stressing that the experience has “built that strength and with the encouragement and motivation of my colleagues and subordinate officers I managed to get over those things.”
She also spoke highly of Commander of Region Six Jairam Ramlakhan, who she said has pushed her and other ranks to elevate themselves and realize their fullest potential. Persaud is urging women to follow their dreams and take a chance of themselves. She also encouraged those desirous of joining the force to go ahead and do so but to always remember, “When you decide to be a police some persons above you will try every and anything to get at you but you must stand firm and protect your dignity and that of your family….”
She added, “Take pride in everything you do, earn as much respect as you can and at the end of it you will be able to say proudly I completed my training and I can wear my crown and lift my head high.”
“Being a police officer opens your eyes to different perspectives… It helps to build a relationship with you and your community. A police can save an innocent life every day, a police can bring a family together and build peace among them,” she added.
Questioned about what one of her favorite part of being a police officer is, Persaud said, “I enjoy being a policewoman because one of the most rewarding and satisfying aspects of being a police is to help others in bad situations. Helping them to get back on their feet and with those same little kindness people always praise me and it makes me feel great.”
In ten years, Persaud hopes to become an Inspector of Police or Assistant Superintendent. At present, she is just happy to be able to help, and to take pride in wearing her uniform like the women she once admired. “They always took pride in wearing that uniform. Always neat and outstanding. So, I used to tell myself that one day I will be wearing that same uniform and I did what I had to and I’m now wearing my uniform and I’m being told on a daily basis that I’m one of the neatest female officers.”
