By Claude Mills, Staff ReporterPATERNITY ISSUES have hobbled the efforts of administrators to clear the backlog of cases involving payment of benefits to the families of police officers killed in the line of duty.
"There are 14 cases awaiting a paternity order from the court to prove that children are in fact the offspring of policemen killed in the line of duty," said Sergeant David Sinclair of the Administration Department in the Office of the Commissioner of Police.
He told The Gleaner that there were cases where the officer's name was not on the child's birth certificate..." Unless there is a paternity order, the child cannot benefit and that's what is holding up the cases," he said.
For such children to benefit, the Police Sergeant told The Gleaner that: "The mothers will have to get supporting witnesses to come to the Family Court and be interviewed as to what was the nature of the relationship between the policeman who has been killed and the mother." He explained that a witness who is a relative of the deceased is preferred because of the relationship to the deceased.
Ten families of policemen killed in the line of duty have received compensation from the Government during the period January to July 31 this year. The families include officers killed from as far back as 2001. Two families have received payments under the new $4 million arrangement.
But even as the Government moves to clear up the backlog of cases of families seeking compensation, several families have asked the Police Federation to make school fee payments for the new academic year and provide assistance to spouses.
"The families of these slain officers often come to the Federation for assistance, some are paid pensions (one-third of policeman's salary) and elementary allowances, and this is not enough. We have to assist them in whatever way we can, but even so we may soon have a case of a high number of dropouts of children in these families," said Sergeant David White, Chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation (JPF). The JPF is the organisation that represents rank-and-file members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).
He said the Federation was seeking the assistance of the Ministry of National Security to the tune of $700,000 to send the children of slain policemen back to school this September.
"The plans are far-advanced and we should get the money by next week," he disclosed.
However, the Federation remains peeved at the 'bureaucratic machinery' of the Government.
"As usual, the red tape is still a problem, and even if the policeman is dead and there are no witnesses to his death, then the families cannot get the funds. The case then goes back to the division because of the bureaucracy involved, and there it sits even if it is just one statement that is needed and this is the case even if there are no witnesses to the policeman's death," Sergeant White said.
