A few weeks ago, Inspector Kevin Ashworth, head of the RCIPS Training and Development Unit, was pleasantly surprised by an email he received from Emma Lang, age 21, a Caymanian attending university in the UK. Ms. Lang expressed her interest in spending her two-week spring break “shadowing” officers in different units of the RCIPS.

“I thought it was a great idea,” says Inspector Ashworth, “we’ve had interns, of course, but not someone off-island who wanted to spend their spring break getting acquainted with different aspects of the work we do. I was all for it.”

Ms. Lang is in the Master’s program in clinical and forensic psychology at the University of Newcastle, and is leaning toward an investigative career with law enforcement after she graduates. Although she intends to pursue this career initially in the UK, she plans to make Cayman her home again eventually, and the RCIPS is one of the likely places she may apply for a job.

“You see the islands differently once you’ve been away for a while,” she explains, “and while I enjoy life in the big city now I know I will want to come back here one day. The RCIPS is one place where I could do my part to improve life here while getting to also do some really interesting work.”

Throughout the two weeks of her stay with the Service during Easter break, the TDU arranged for Ms. Lang to visit many different departments, including Family Support, CID, Press Office, Professional Standards, Air Operations and Training and Development, where she observed portions of the Sergeant’s Development Course and Confirmation in Rank courses run over the last few weeks.

Ms. Lang shared some of her impressions from her two-week sojourn with the organization.

“One thing that I was surprised by was the enthusiasm the people I interacted with had for their work, despite the way the police service is perceived,” she said, “I was also surprised by the number of patrols, especially covert patrols, that are done. I had no idea.

I was also impressed by the number of women working in the RCIPS. There were far more than I expected.”

She also shared some highlights.

“There was the proactive patrol with a detective, when I expected nothing to happen, but we found a potentially stolen dirt bike. That was interesting. Then, of course, there was a fascinating morning in the press office…” she laughs.

Ms. Lang was born in George Town and attended Cayman Preparatory High School. She will be graduating from her master’s program this August.

Pictures: Inspector Ashworth and Ms. Lang outside the TDU; Ms. Lang near the entrance of the TDU