On January 27, Lorna, as she prefers to be called, will have spent one year at the Marie Atkins Shelter on Hanover Street, downtown Kingston. As anniversaries go, this will be one of the unhappiest moments for the woman who once held the post of district constable in the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

One year after taking up residence, Lorna still cannot believe that she has ended up in the poor house - this after working in the police force for over 20 years, having joined up in 1982.

The petite woman, with tears in her eyes, says she now shares space with individuals who once occupied the jailhouse in Half-Way Tree that she was appointed to guard.

"Many still remember me. They can't believe it's me who used to counsel them."

Lorna's own life was changed, she said in December 2004, when she experienced personal conflict with a supervisor. She continued to do her duties until one day she returned from guarding a prisoner at the Jubillee Hospital to Half-Way Tree to find that there were no duties listed for her.

"There was no duty set. I called again and again and there was no duty." In July 2004, she went to speak personally with her supervisor about the issue and she was told "there is no job here for you".

Since that day, Lorna said she wrote letters to the Ministry of National Security and to anyone who she thought might listen and support re re-instatement. In 2005, she was finally told by then Commissioner of Police Francis Forbes to return to work, but by then she was blind and sick. Inexplicably Lorna had lost her sight.

No other relatives

Lorna states that she grew up with her grandmother in Kingston who is long deceased. She knows of no other relatives, she says, although she knows she was born in Trelawny.

At the Marie Atkins Shelter, she shares space with approximately 100 homeless people, a few of whom have appointed themselves her guardians.

But she states, "I wake up in the mornings crying. I never had a mother and father. I just need someone to say what I should do and where I should go. I need to start my life again."

The Gleaner confirmed that the district constable is still registered as a serving member of the force and stationed at St Andrew Central, Half-Way Tree. According to officers in the administrative section of the Commissioner's Office, she started service on the March 16, 1982, and her employment has not been terminated.

Lena Latibeaudiere, inspector of the poor at the Kingston Poor Relief Department, says efforts have been made to place Lorna in a home, including a Salvation Army hostel, but she is apparently fearful of being exploited.

Currently, Ms Latibeaudiere says, the department is in dialogue with the District Constable Association with regards to her care.

A member of the association has taken the officer for tests at the ophthalmologist's and is said to be making further arrangements for her care.

Marjorie Fyffe of the District Constable Association in Kingston said that Lorna was already in receipt of a settlement and pension from the Ministry of National Security and that efforts would be made to ensure that she gained safe lodgings as soon as possible.