Ce’Cile steps up to defend women

Veteran artiste Ce'Cile has long championed respect for law and order and the police force, but says she has been forced to call out cops with some choice words for her own fraternity.

Her ire stems from a case in which a woman - her friend's neighbour - was kidnapped from Bridgeport, held for two days, and her bank account wiped out by her abductors.

Her captors dropped her off in Cross Roads, St Andrew, and she was forced to visit three different police stations before a report was finally taken.

Ce'Cile made a post this week, asking if anybody could corroborate the incident. The victim herself subsequently did, and even sent her a copy of the police report.

been kidnapped

"Since then I have been receiving DMs from women who have been kidnapped who say that when they go to report the matter to the police, they are made to feel as if they are the criminals, rather than the victim. And because of that, others just don't report these things. Can you imagine, you have been held for two days, let off and you find the nearest police station, only to be sent elsewhere because you are in the wrong jurisdiction? And then you go where they have sent you, but it's still the wrong place. So, with all your trauma, you then have to find a third police station. That is madness!" she told THE WEEKEND STAR.

Ce'Cile is eager to use her platform and her influence to get vital messages across, and she said that the police have reached out to her.

"I am learning so much from both sides. The police told me that there is an arm that deals with complaints like these - IPROB (Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau). So, they want me to tell these women to make a formal complaint to IPROB and they will act speedily. I was even sent a video of the commissioner making a speech in which he said that the first police station must take the report in cases such as these. So it is for us as women, especially, to have the information," she said. Ce'Cile is also inviting the police to use her platform to educate women through healthy discussions. She said that she felt it was her duty as a citizen and as a mother to play her part.

"I am sure there are persons more qualified than me to do this, but at the end of the day, the reality is that this problem exists and let us try and fix it. There are ways to make the police be held accountable and at the same time, it is important to remember that there are still good men and women in the force. But the bad ones are giving them such a bad name," Ce'Cile shared.

Directly addressing her own music colleagues, she said: "Let us collectively come together to fight the evil that is happening. Some of dem (perpetrators) deh round we, either by choice or circumstances. And we need to stop that 'informer fi dead' narrative that we have been spewing. Me nah play no hypocrite."