THE glow of the newly married shines in the eyes of Gordon and Tanisha Ellison as they talk to each other at the firing range of the Jamaica Police Academy in Twickenham Park, St Catherine where the Sunday Observer has opted to meet them for this story.
Twenty-seven-year-old Gordon is weeks away from graduating as one the constabulary's newest recruits in its accelerated officer training programme.
His 24-year-old wife, Tanisha, also a beneficiary of that programme, graduated from the Tranquility Bay, St Elizabeth, police training camp last year.
They are the "poster children" for the new JCF; representing the new thrust towards recruits who are young, disciplined, intelligent and dedicated to service of country.
Their third wedding anniversary will find them far removed from the kind of future the young university-educated couple had in mind when they met a few years ago.
"It wasn't that we were planning to join the force when we were dating," said Gordon of the circumstances that led to both of them joining the JCF.
The two young Christians had got married in December 2008 while still university students. Though they both were born and raised in St Elizabeth — Gordon attending Munroe College and Tanisha, Hampton School for Girls — they never actually met until they were both attending the University of Technology.
Gordon was studying for the Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Health, while his future wife was pursuing a degree in Medical Technology.
They both thought this was a pretty good foundation for the rest of their lives.
But fate would intervene.
Tanisha, an avid science student all the way up to sixth form, had always fancied herself becoming a forensics expert.
"I used to love watching CSI and I guess there is where my interest started," she explained. "I read an article about forensics being offered as a degree programme at UWI, and I was really thinking seriously about it."
Tanisha was working at the national Government lab as a medical technologist while she completed her university internship, and her husband, who had taken a year off from school, had just returned to complete his degree and was working as a public health inspector for the Kingston and St Andrew Health Department (KSAHD).
It so happened that around this time, the JCF was on a recruitment drive for degreed young recruits to join the accelerated officer training programme, which further piqued the Ellisons' interest. Then, one day the couple went to see then Deputy Commissioner of Police Jevene Bent on a totally unrelated matter.
"I mentioned to her that I was really interested in forensics, and she said 'why don't you join the police force?'. It didn't add up to me then, but when I went home I discussed it with my husband," said Tanisha.
Gordon was all for it, encouraging his wife's ambitions as he waited to graduate.
"Unlike what most husbands would say, I agreed that it would be a good idea to join. I said to her 'you have an athletic build, you have the mental capacity to handle pressure' and I encouraged her," he said.
The couple felt they should really take a closer look at the JCF's training programme, which offered all sorts of opportunities for advancement, including possible funding if they chose to study law.
"I have always been a person who admired the military," said Gordon. His wife interjected with a chuckle, "He loves regimental stuff."
At his wife's urging, Gordon also applied for entry to the accelerated officers' training programme at the JCF, and for good measure, indulged his interest in learning to fly aeroplanes by applying to the Jamaica Defence Force with the possibility of joining the Air Wing. Always a high achiever, he got into both the JDF and the JCF and had to make a choice that would send his life into a completely new direction.
"After doing some homework and the background on the force, I realised that this organisation has limitless potential," he admitted. "It is definitely one that can allow me to embrace challenges and capitalise on the skills that will mold one into a better individual. And there are 45 units in which you can serve. I don't think there is another organisation in this country that offers such diversity."
Tanisha agreed: "Persons of all different professions can join the force and their talents can be utilised, if you are a teacher, a carpenter, if you are a motor vehicle expert, you have the transport and repairs section where you can go."
Nonetheless, while Gordon said he was motivated by the way his wife tackled the tough training of a police recruit, he did not want to join the JCF before she completed her training.
"Being a husband, if you endure something rough, then it's most natural you won't want your wife to endure it," Gordon said, explaining why they chose to let Tanisha complete her training before he began his basic training.
Mrs Ellison started training in June 2010 and graduated in November. The husband and wife passed like ships in the night.
"The same day I was dispatched after graduation, they took him in that same Sunday for training," she said.
She was assigned to the Organised Crime Investigative Division (OCID). It isn't exactly forensics, where Tanisha's interests really lie, but she is enjoying it just the same.
She is one of the team members on the newest task force out of that division, probing cyber-crimes such as credit or debit card fraud.
"It's very much an on-the-road job; you're out there everyday, you're taking statements, you're conducting surveillance. Basically you're investigating trying to find the perpetrators," she said.
Tanisha explained that they are thorough and methodical in tracking perpetrators; using technology to build airtight cases and only moving in on a criminal when they have a strong case.
"We have a philosophy, we're not going to draw down and arrest someone if we're not sure (of their involvement in crime) so we do a lot of background checks, a lot of groundwork before we go out there. So when we go out there, we are pretty sure, it's just a matter of you confessing or of you denying it," she explained.
She is obviously very proud of the JCF in general and her OCID teammates in particular, especially their recent breakthroughs in cyber-crime. She added that the banks have recorded a decline in card fraud since her unit started operating.
The risks of tracking and apprehending cyber-criminals are serious as is any police work, but this does not intimidate Mrs Ellison, delicate as she may look. Beneath her pretty, feminine grace is a tough, driven cop. As she showed her deft handling of her service pistol for the Sunday Observer, she acknowledged that she sometimes surprises her fellow OCID team members with her proficiency.
She also admitted that she does meet up on people who believe she should have gone the route of the traditional and stereotypical 'wife'.
"One of the first questions people ask me is, 'how your husband let you join the force?' It's one of the questions I get a lot," she said with a laugh. But her role, she said, is merely a reflection of the advancement of the JCF.
"The thing is, the mentality, our culture has led people to believe that policing is about being hostile and aggressive. If someone does something wrong, you grab them up, you know, aggressively. But the entire force has changed now, where human rights are first and foremost. There are certain use of force policies which you have to observe. So I guess considering that the force is changing, it is changing women's roles as well. It's now about being proactive, solving problems, critical thinking," she opined.
According to the commandant of the training school, the Ellisons have aced many of the screening tests in the selection process for accelerated promotion into the JCF officer corps.
Gordon is described as "a determined individual who aspires to achieve all things that are considered to be of paramount importance and tantamount to excellence. His aim is to be the best at whatever he does".
He is exceedingly proud of his wife's progress.
"I am very proud to be the husband of a woman who was actually chosen to be a part of a specialised police division like OCID," he told the Sunday Observer.
He said he is not overly concerned about her being in the line of fire as he believes in the strength of the JCF's training and trusts that safety regulations are rigorously followed while his wife and her team are on operation. "It's not that I am fearful of whatever type of operation she has to go on. You are carefully briefed and you are given the adequate equipment for your task," he said. "Secondly, she is in an area where few police officers have actually died in the line of duty."
Gordon has already blazed an impressive trail as a trainee cop, being elected president of the Student Council body at the academy, and voluntarily relinquishing his post as squad captain to dedicate his full effort to this office as he fully embraced the training.
"Training is really preparing you for what you will face out there in the real world." he said.
"Discipline is paramount, time management is paramount, dedication is of utmost importance," he explained. "So these three principles, if you should grasp them while in training, there is not doubt that you will go out there and be an efficient constable."
He, too, would love to go into a specialised unit on graduating and he hopes his superiors will feel the same way.
Tanisha said her husband remains a pillar of strength and encouragement and checks in with her regularly while she is on the job and in-between his classes on the JPA campus, just as he did while she was away on the gruelling six-month training programme.
"I had a knee injury and you know you need to get through the physical and you want to be impressive, but I felt like I was lagging behind and I called him, 'training running away leave mi, you know', and he said, 'no Tan' man, I going pray you get better', and the next morning I got up and it was like I felt no pain," she explained.
"'G' (Gordon) has been really motivating. A lot of what I am now, I owe to him, because he has shown me how to look at things differently in terms of fighting and being determined," said Tanisha.
For a less determined couple, the fact that they are both cops could be a daunting fact when the time comes for them to have children.
But they both hasten to say they have a few more years to go before they start a family.
"I think it would be ideal to have achieved something first," Gordon said, looking at his wife, who concurred.
The Ellisons said they are more focused on attaining certain life goals before going down that road, but plan to tackle child-rearing in much the same way they have tackled any challenge before; fearlessly, with a plan, hard work, sacrifice and with their eyes firmly fixed on God.
