ST MARY, Jamaica— Balancing a life of being a mother and a police constable attached to one of the most feared units in the parish of St Mary, tops the list of difficult tasks for Karen Powell.

Powell has been a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) for over 17 years and is attached to the Operational Special Team. She told Observer Online that the difficulty of balancing life does not stem from the physicality of the job but the mental strain that often results from what she witnesses while she is on duty, and knowing that she has three daughters.

Despite this, the St Mary native has expressed no regrets as she has always dreamed of being a member of the police force.

“From I was a little girl I knew I wanted to be a police officer. I would watch TV shows and movies where the police made a difference. I wanted to be like them making a difference,” Powell said.

When asked for an example how she makes a difference, Powell spoke of a single father who was having issues with his teenage daughter, who kept running away from home, and refusing to take a bath. Though the father had many people counsel the girl, nothing worked. Reaching his limit, he took the girl to the station and Powell was on duty.

“When he came in I was the only female officer at the station. I spoke with the young lady not as someone in authority but as a mother,” Constable Powell recalled.

Powell recounted that a few weeks later the teen, who was also a mother, came back to the station to express gratitude as she had taken her advice and was back in school. The teen’s father also came back and thanked Powell, telling her that the teen was more focused and positive, and the strained relationship between them was a thing of the past.

Powell also revealed that the young woman still approaches her and tells her thanks.

“This touched me in every way. I looked at it (the situation) as if she was my child,” the police constable said, adding that this is just one of the many instances where she got the chance to make a difference in someone’s life.

Out of the uniform Constable Powell describes herself as a shy and down to earth individual. But most importantly, she is a mother of three girls—two adults and a six-year-old— who loves church and is grateful for the support system that has helped her along her journey with her hectic work schedule.

“I can tell you that without my grandmother and aunt who helped to raise me and she raised my older daughters I don’t know what I would do,” Powell said.

Being a single parent in the early part of motherhood took a toll on Powell when she had to be out at various hours and weekends, and missed special occasions as she felt like an unworthy mother.

“It’s really hard and challenging; it makes me paranoid at times knowing that I have seen so many things happening to girls, and I had to be leaving them at various hours to go to work. Although two of them are adults it’s still hard. As a police officer you are marked and I don’t want them to be marked,” she said.

Powell recalled that in her daughters’ formative years they would cry a lot whenever she had to leave for duty as they had the fear of mommy not coming home.

“My job affected them as they had that fear of not seeing me again and they missed me. As they grew up I wasn’t a part of a lot of things in their life but they grew to be proud of the job I do and the unit that I’m attached to. If they had any problems with boys at school they would just say ‘my mommy is a police officer and a part of the jump out police’ then their problem would be solved,” the constable said smiling.

What makes Constable Powell a phenomenal woman and mother like many other mothers who have hectic job schedules and frontline duties, is that she can proudly say that she did an excellent job as a single parent raising her two now-adult daughters who have become positive members in society, for which she is often showered with compliments.

She encourages other women to follow their dreams but never to leave family behind, instead to surround themselves with a trustworthy support system.

“I couldn’t do it alone, I had a strong family that I trusted and could leave my kids with,” said Powell.

-Ingrid Henry