Crime-fighter, lawyer Alison Woods-Dolloway: 'I'm a minister of justice'

Towering at just under six feet tall, Alison Woods-Dolloway is a beacon of knowledge when it comes to managing a broad spectrum of serious crimes in five police stations around Port of Spain. She has the demanding job of acting assistant superintendent of police. Now, as a lawyer also, Woods-Dolloway sees herself as "a minister of justice."

Woods-Dolloway has to monitor the progress of all serious crimes as well as the competency of the investigations in the communities of Besson Street, Central Police Station, Woodbrook, St Clair and Belmont.

Daily, as the acting ASP in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department and the Criminal Records Office (CID/CRO), she liaises with the inspectors in charge of crime of the five police stations to be briefed on new cases, progress on pending cases, cold cases and any other issues which may arise.

The last girl of 14 siblings, Woods-Dolloway, 49, epitomises confidence and professionalism on the job.

From her well-tailored grey patterned skirt suit, pearl earrings, with matching pearl string for her facemask, Woods-Dolloway easily commanded the respect of junior officers as she walked along the corridors of Police Headquarters in Port of Spain on August 3.

She was a natural model, as Newsday's chief photographer Jeff Mayers realised when he took her outside her second-floor office for a photoshoot of the colonial building which was destroyed during the 1990 attempted coup.

He didn't know she had been also a top performer at several beauty pageants, including Miss Trinidad and Tobago in 1993.

Coming from Les Coteaux, Tobago, which to this day carries the stigma of witchcraft and folklore of Gang Gang Sara, the West African witch who was blown from her home in Africa across the sea to Tobago and landed quite safely at the tiny village, Woods-Dolloway is proud of her heritage.

She's even prouder of what she has achieved over the years.

After she graduated from Signal Hill Senior Comprehensive, her first job was as the front-office cashier at the Mt Irvine Bay Hotel, where she said she gained invaluable experience in the tourism industry and customer service.

On the urging of her elder sister, then a soldier, Woods-Dolloway applied to join the police in 1993, enrolled in July 1994 and graduated from the Police Barracks, as it was then called, in January 1995.

Her first assignment was in the Tobago Division, where she worked in the charge rooms of the Scarborough and then Crown Point police stations.

Within a year, she was selected to join the pilot project of the E999 rapid response unit based at St James Police Station.

And as a first responder she quickly learned on the job and absorbed all she could from the senior officers assigned on her shift.

In 1997, Woods-Dolloway was again selected to be part of the team as the E999 was rolled out in Tobago, where she again gained the confidence of her superiors and was appointed chief clerk to the officer in charge of the unit.

"Working in the E999 as a first responder was my first real experience going out there and responding to people in distress," she said.

She was the first on the scene when someone was shot, robbed or raped and had to use her instincts and training to give the victims comfort.

It was during her Tobago posting she fell in love with a fellow police officer. She is now divorced.

In 1999, she was transferred to Port of Spain's Besson Street station, in a community plagued by gang violence, child abuse and poverty. She was assigned as the chief clerk to the inspector in charge of the station.

Within two years, she was assigned to the Homicide Bureau, under the leadership of James Philbert, who later held the rank as acting commissioner of police.

She had a short stint there before her application to join the Criminal Investigations Department as a crime scene photographer was approved.

During her four years in that field, Woods-Dolloway got significant experience testifying in court in a myriad of cases and even pursued her shutterbug passion to offer wedding photography services during her downtime.

She is also ambitious and soon after she completed her probation as a constable she sat the exams for both corporal and sergeant and was successful.

Throughout her career, she recalls the words of one of her instructors during training: that she should never allow the lack of promotion to be a hindrance to the job but just do it to the best of her ability.

Woods-Dolloway went on to join the Homicide Bureau in October 2005 as an investigator and had specialised training by the Special Anti-Crime Unit to give her a more in-depth approach to solving crime and processing crime scenes using methods which were more detailed.

She is an advocate for preserving the integrity of crime scenes which could provide crucial clues to solving a case.

Woods-Dolloway's posting as the acting sergeant in charge of a shift of the Arima station in 2010 exposed her to yet another layer of experience after she was assigned as a prosecutor to the Arima Magistrates' Court.

She had to learn fast and credits magistrates Adrian Darmaine, Debby Ann Bassaw and Gillian David-Scotland and a host of other defence and prosecutors for helping shape her advocacy skills. She said the magistrates are true "ministers of justice" and were fair in the way they dispensed justice.

"I was successful in a lot of matters. I had a good track record. I loved doing it. In the first instance, I will make notes of everything because I was not legally trained as a lawyer, I actually picked up all my skills while working, while observing," she said,

She eventually attended courses at the Hugh Wooding Law School and was tutored by prosecutors from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Smitten by the prosecutorial bug, and encouraged by many who lauded her courtroom skills Woods-Dolloway did an external law degree through the University of London, and completed her legal practice course as a full-time student at the University of Staffordshire, in the UK.

She already had a first degree in behavioural science from Andrew's University, an affiliate of the University of the Southern Caribbean, in Maracas, St Joseph and an associate degree in psychology from the College of Science, Applied Arts of TT

But she started her law degree from scratch, even though it would have been easier and faster to complete her masters in social work.

"Because of what I was doing, I loved it so much. I felt that it was part of me and started law," she said.

On July 23, this year Woods-Dolloway was admitted to the bar after she was petitioned by attorney Angelique Olowe. She had done her mandatory six-months in-service training at Olowe's firm, where she got useful courtroom experience, albeit virtual during the pandemic.

"Marrying being a police officer, who has oversight in solving crimes, and now being a minister of justice for both victim and offender is a good thing. I can see crime as a minister of justice from both sides."

She intends to apply to the commissioner of police to be able to practise law in non-contentious and non-criminal matters to sharpen her skills, but more importantly she will use those skills to help the police service.

Woods-Dolloway said she will use all of her experience to help guide investigators to follow the correct procedure during their investigations so that there can be a higher rate of convictions.

She said as a prosecutor she would see the mistakes of investigators in failing to gather all the evidence to support a charge, or be unaware of the legal precedence of similar matters, and her experience can fill that gap.

"I believe in sharing information. Everyone should be on an equal footing."

Woods-Dolloway is on a month's leave from her substantive job to do a leadership training course, and has reverted to her substantive rank of inspector.

When she returns to work in three weeks' time she is not certain she will return to the job of acting ASP CID/CRO and may be assigned to another section, if there is an existing vacancy, but remains ready to take on whatever challenge that comes her way and help the police service grow.