Decorators bring good cheer to police service

FOR decorator Vandanaa Deonath-Sankar it is all about being her brother’s keeper.

Deonath-Sankar owns and runs the Debe-based decorating company V&S Creations and is one of a team of decorators across TT who’ve been adding that Christmas touch to police stations as a way of giving back.

She knows that every day police officers risk their lives when they leave their homes to report for duty and she wanted to be a part of something that shows the officers they are appreciated. She hopes when the officers walk into the stations, “maybe the lights or something in the ornament or some part of the décor might catch their eye, their appeal and bring a smile to their eyes and minds, knowing that people do care.”

The group is co-ordinated by decorator Robert Solomon, who issued a call on Facebook last year for decorators to brighten up stations across the country. They were able to have all 77 done. This year, despite the covid19 pandemic, the decorators are doing the same.

Recounting how it began, Solomon said he had been toying with the idea for four years.

“I always say I must really go and decorate St Joseph Police Station one day.

“I thought Christmas must be a really dreary time for them and I said, 'Let me just do it.' I decided to decorate the police stations for them. After making the call to do it, I realised that Nicole (Dyer-Griffith) had brought focus to the ISOS initiative. That spurred me on even further because of my relationship with Mrs Dyer-Griffith as Miss TT,” he said. The ISOS was launched in 2018 by the Dyer-Griffith and was devised to assist in raising the confidence of dedicated officers and improving trust between the public and police.

Solomon put out the Facebook call in September, saying, "Hey guys. Calling all decorators let’s do something different. Let’s decorate the police stations in our area. I choose St Joseph. You choose one and let’s go with it.”

It quickly grew from there. Decorators and groups throughout the country participated, including mas band Cocoa Devils, which decorated the Woodbrook Police Station.

But many decorators have not worked for most of 2020 because of the pandemic.

“Since Carnival we are kind of in a shutdown mode. I know it was difficult, but we kept the chat group going where people talk to each other and share ideas and that kind of thing.

“I just said, 'I am still going to do St Joseph and will just tell them and see how they react to it.' I said, ‘Guys, I am still going ahead with the St Joseph branch this year because I've made such a connection with them…'

“And then everybody just jumped onboard and said, ‘Of course.’”

This year Solomon is decorating West End, St Joseph, Toco and Patna Police Youth Club.

Some decorators were unable to do as many as last year but said they’d still do something, since the police worked through covid19. Deonath-Sankar claimed the stations at Debe, Siparia and Tableland, six down from the nine she did last year.

The appreciation that it brings is enough for Solomon and his fellow decorators.

“They are very appreciative of it. Last year some people thought we were being paid to do it. But when they realised we were doing it out of our very own pocket, they were shocked. They could not believe that the citizens were doing this for them.”

Doing it during a pandemic year tells the officers, he said, “‘Hey, we see you and you all putting yourselves on the line for us.

“‘We just want to say, thank you.’”

The decorators began working on the stations after Divali on November 15 and hope to have the stations decorated by December 5. At the time of writing, 18 stations were yet to have decorators attached to them. To get the additional decorators, he intends to push out Facebook blasts and other calls, hoping there are people out there willing to bring cheer to the police.

The decorators work closely with WPC Keisha Duke, a member of the ISOS secretariat. Duke adopted the project and acts as the liaison between the decorators and the police. In a phone interview, she told Newsday the project is done collaboratively through the ISOS
.

She sends introductory letters to the station's head prior to the decorators visiting.

“We are always working, and for those who are working on the holiday away from
home, they come to work and see the place decorated. It really does boost their morale, from the information they would have given us.

“We know what happens when they are out there. You have people coming down on the officers and sometimes it is really hard to see that maybe one or two of colleagues may do things and then the whole service gets blamed.

“You really want them to feel that sense of belonging in their country and that idea that people actually care how you feel, people actually care and support you all.”

She said some of the decorators go as far as returning on Christmas Day and delivering lunch or breakfast to the officers.

The efforts, she said, will be particularly meaningful this year because, “even though there are challenges with the covid we also want to have some sort of normalcy.”

She applauded the decorators who still decided to join in despite having not worked for the year.

“When Robert called me and he said, ‘A lot of the decorators are asking what are we doing. We want to get back onboard.'

“They still wanted to come onboard and we welcomed that with open arms.

“We went to the commissioner and informed him of what was happening and he had no issues.”