Acts Of Kindess From Cop
Meet Corporal Andrew Williams. He is the cop known for performing random acts of kindness to the general public.
Williams has been seen visiting establishments islandwide being a ‘kind’ shopper, and even rewarding people with gift baskets when they have committed generous acts.
Williams mentioned that he started a non-profit organisation called Positive Initiative in 2012, in an attempt to foster kindness across Jamaica, and create an ideal world for his daughter to grow up in.
“I try to find a shop or supermarket and I probably pay for a person’s grocery in full or a portion of it and ask that whatever they save, just use it to be kind to somebody else. We’re trying to change the conversation and have the culture of kindness be present in our youngsters. One of the ways we’re giving back is that I’m on a tour. I call it the Act of Random Kindness tour. I go from parish to parish and I’ll be kind to one individual that I see doing an act of kindness,” he said.
Williams says he travels once a month to do his acts, just choosing a parish before setting out.
From my salary
“What I can do from my salary, I will. Where the baskets are concerned, I got sponsorship for those baskets. I don’t take cash from people … you know the whole policing thing; I don’t cross that line at all. If you want to do something, I’ll probably do something in your area or the school that you attend,” he said.
Williams, who is stationed at the Community Safety and Security Branch headquarters on Oxford Road in St Andrew, is also using social media to push the message of generosity.
He does this “for people to realise that if somebody can leave from Spanish Town to go to Westmoreland and be kind to somebody, then if you’re from Westmoreland, you must can take time to be kind to somebody there as well.”
The corporal says many persons are appreciative that there are still persons doing things like this.
“What’s great about it is persons get to see the police in a different light. People are always saying: ‘I can’t believe you’re a police officer … I can’t believe you’re so kind’. It helps me on both fronts … in my policing and just as an ordinary citizen,” he said.
Williams said that he wants to see the acts of kindness himself, rather than having someone suggested.
“If I can see the kindness, it sits well with my conscience to know that the right person got it. Kindness is not what you see every day in every single space. You see negativity, but … wait it out and I’m pretty sure even in the roughest situations, you will see somebody being kind,” he said.
Credit : Jamaica Star