Focus of GoFundMe drive for slain cops shifted

THE ‘GOFUNDME’ drive launched by a number of organisations in the United States for the families of two policemen who were killed during an operation in Horizon Park, St Catherine, will now be used to set up a scholarship in the names of the lawmen.

The change came after the family of Constable Decardo Hylton objected to the goal of the original campaign.

Constable Hylton’s mother, Janet Jones-Hamilton, told The Gleaner that the family would rather have the money used for a scholarship in her son and Detective Corporal Dane Biggs’ names.

She said that relatives were upset about the fund as the family only became aware of it through the Gleaner article.

“It is a good gesture but they went about it the wrong way. No one spoke with the family and we did not like how it sounded,” she said.

A number of organisations in the diaspora announced that they would be starting the GoFundMe drive to raise US$50,000 that would go to the families of both slain policemen. The organisations include the Jamaica Diaspora Crime Prevention and Intervention Task Force; Help Jamaica Medical Mission; the Jamaica Ex-Soldiers of New York, The Jamaica Ex-Police of South Florida and Jamaica Men of South Florida, among others.

Jones-Hamilton said that when they found out about the drive the family members were peeved because it gave the impression that they were begging funds to bury their son.

Putting the money towards a scholarship, she said, could become the basis of starting a foundation in her son’s name.

The lead organiser of the drive, Captain Rupert Francis, said they had no objection to the change in focus.

“It (the scholarship) is a great suggestion,” he said.

Detective Corporal Biggs and Constable Hylton were shot and killed during a predawn operation to arrest gunmen at Horizon Park when they came under heavy gunfire.

Two other officers, Superintendent Leon Clunis and another policeman, were wounded in the attack.

The chairman of the Police Federation, Sergeant Patrae Rowe, said that he was aware of the desire to set up the drive but his organisation did not give its blessings to the effort.

He told The Gleaner that individuals and corporations have reached out offering to help. He saw the drive as another effort to assist.