Superintendent Kamecia Blake-Byam is on a mission to modernize policing in the Caribbean and she is breaking stereotypes and records in the process. Blake-Byam is a trained psychologist and lecturer in St. Vincent and Grenadines.
She made history as the first Forensic Psychologist in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and was the youngest person in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to attain the rank of Assistant Superintendent, and later Superintendent of Police by the age of 24.
In 2011, she completed the Regional Security System (RSS) Staff and Command Course and received the most outstanding student award. She was then offered an opportunity to be a lecturer the following year.
She has found her teaching career to be the most fulfilling, saying, “The beginning of each course marks another batch of officers that I have an opportunity to mould into more skilled, learned and proficient officers within the region’s forces. This is what makes me feel accomplished.”
She has also influenced policy having represented the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force on the Regional Security System (RSS) Education Committee where she assisted in the review and development of policing standards and policies in the region.
Blake-Byam currently teaches at the RSS Training Institute as the Staff Officer for Training where her primary responsibility is the coordination of training in the RSS Member States.
Her advice to others as reported by regional news portal Caribbean 360 is, “… to have a plan, to identify where you are and where you want to go in life. Once you’ve determined where your path will lead, it becomes easier to direct your next move”.
“It is also important for young persons not to be daunted by the struggles of their start in life because your start does not determine where you will end,” she continues.
On her mission to modernize law enforcement in the region, through the use of technology and innovation, she says:
Police Forces must be contemporary and versatile enough to adjust to the current challenges and risks of the profession, therefore new policing technologies and a modernized force capable of adapting to the changing dynamics of crime are critical.
“If we are static in our thoughts so too will be our policies, approaches and remedies to crime in our society,” she added.
