45 cops died of natural causes this year...union renews call for gov't study

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) lost 45 members who died this year of natural causes, the union that represents rank and file cops has revealed.

Further, chairman of the Police Federation Sergeant Patrae Rowe says in the last five years over 200 police men and women have died of natural causes.

The disclosures come a day after Constable Natoya Bryan was found dead inside her home in Longville Park, Clarendon.

According to the JCF’s Corporate Communication Unit (CCU), Bryan was epileptic and hypertensive and the incident is being treated as a sudden death.

Police and firefighters were reportedly summoned to her home after worried relatives complained that they were not able to contact her by phone.

Bryan, who was assigned to the St Catherine North Community Safety and Security Branch, was found unresponsive in a room, the police said.

Rowe believes the number of cops dying of natural causes is “not normal.”

He says Bryan’s death supports the call by the federation for the government to commission a study into lifestyle illnesses among the men and women of the JCF and the conditions under which they serve.

“We are again renewing our call for government to commission a study into the extraordinarily high death rate in JCF. We believe this is not normal,” he told The Gleaner today.

“Our officers are worn and overworked.”

Rowe described Bryan as a “good police officer” who worked diligently.

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