San Fernando Mayor Marlene Coudray is appealing to female police officers to create a network for the protection of women. Coudray said sex crimes continued to plague women. She said this should be of great concern to society.
Her appeal was echoed was by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Fitzroy Fredericks, who called on his subordinates to take greater care of young women. Scores of women turned up at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church at Harris Promenade, San Fernando, yesterday to celebrate the success of women in society. Those in attendance included female members of the South and South Western Division Police Service, Fire Service, Traffic Wardens and others.
Addressing the women Coudray said: "Sexual crime has to be of concern to all of us. I encourage you women police officers to look out for our girls and our women. I ask that you really create a network to commit yourselves to protecting our women and particularly our young girls." Coudray said the expectations of women as leaders had changed as they tend to focus on different issues. Coudray advised women to learn about the various types of abuse and stand up against it.
"You must be strong and believe in something and work to whatever your goal is but never falter, never give up and never tolerate abuse or discrimination of any kind. Abuse does not have to be physical. You have the mental abuse and you have to understand the different forms of abuse you can take and really not put up with it," Coudray said.
Fredericks said, "As we continue to nurture and mentor, there is a lot of tragedy taking place with young women. We know that there are a lot of sex crimes that have been taking place. I would like to see that greater effort in terms of you taking care of the younger women." Monsignor Christian Pereira delivered the homily.