Clarkson breaking barriers

By MIRIAM ZARRIGA
SHE was only 19 years old, a teacher’s assistant at the Our Lady of Sacred Heart International School (OLSH) in Kavieng, New Ireland, when her parents applied for her training programme in the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary in 1996.
Fast forward 25 years and she is now the deputy commissioner of police – administration – having been confirmed in the position by the Government.
Joanne Clarkson has overcome the barrier of being in a profession many believe is only meant for men.
She overcame the odds while raising her three sons as a single parent.
In an interview with The National, Clarkson spoke of her upbringing.
She is behind the wheel while I’m strapped in on the passenger side as we head to Waigani, she tells me her story.
For many who are unaware of where Clarkson is from, she is of mixed parentage of Tulu in Manus and East Sepik, specifically Kubalia.
“My biological father died when my mum was pregnant with me, however, my mother knew the importance of me getting to know my dad’s side of the family and, to this day, I know them all,” Clarkson said.
“I was raised by a man whose name I proudly carry, John Clarkson, an Australian who my mother married when I was a child.
“He raised me as his own and always pushed me to be at my best.
“So, in 1996, my parents took the police application form and signed me up.
“I think my parents thought I needed a little discipline, they wrote my letter of application to join the constabulary and I was advised that I was shortlisted and to go in for an interview and then we went through the extensive medical checks by the recruiters in Kavieng.
“I tell you I ran around Kavieng town for the fitness test and I did my best, I was moved to Bomana (in Port Moresby).
“I did three years of the cadet officer training from 1996 to 1998.
“I went through the training programme of the constabulary at Bomana.
“In those days, not a lot of women were part of the programme and my buddy was Delilah Sandeka, who is now a superintendent and director of the family and sexual violence unit.
“Delilah and I, on a rainy morning, decided to cook some corn and kaukau (sweet potatoes) over the fire.
“We hid from the instructors and it is one of the memories I have, and Delilah reminded me by showing me a photo of the two of us at the back of the home, hiding and sitting around an open fire.
“Who would have thought?” Clarkson reflected softly.
She paused for a moment, her voice broke as she thought of the years she has been in the force.
It’s a quiet moment, between the two of us, the enormity of what had happened dawned on her.
With a shaky voice, Clarkson said: “It’s an incredible honour, who would have thought that at that time in 1996, in our lifetime of policing, the women in policing would be given the absolute privilege of occupying the office of the deputy commissioner?
“As Police Commissioner David Manning said: ‘It’s unprecedented and it is an humbling experience’.
“When I graduated in 1998, my mother told me, ‘you know I wanted to join the police, but I couldn’t’.
“‘You know why?’
“I asked why.
“She said ‘because I just had you’.
“I was two years in 1977 when they went round to recruit the first women in the organisation, and my mum said: ‘I looked at the application form, I knew I could do it but I looked at you and I decided I wouldn’t’.
“This is, I guess, as much for her as anything else.
“After graduating, I worked at Badili Police Station.
“I applied to go out of Moresby, I wanted to go to Bougainville, but that didn’t happen, I worked at Badili for two years and they moved me to headquarters, I begrudgingly left the NCD command and went to headquarters after they threatened to charge me because I wanted to remain in operational policing.
“My view of where I wanted to work, I wanted to go into investigations, but then I moved to HQ and worked in corporate planning for 13 years and then I went across to Bougainville as an ACP in 2015 for three years.
“Then I returned, it was a challenging, yet extremely wonderful experience.”
Clarkson is a mother of three boys, her eldest is 19 while the others are 15 and 10.
When asked how the boys were taking her appointment, Clarkson said: “To them, mum is just mum.
“My 10-year-old was like ‘so you’re the big boss’.
“I’m like: “No, there is a bigger boss, I am the second big boss, and my 10-year-old is like: ‘That’s really cool’.”
She has a message for the young women in the constabulary and working their way up the ranks.
“It may seem like a cliché, but all you need is to focus and commit yourself and do the hard work, and you will get there,” she said.
“Discipline yourself, if you want something, you can get it.
“A lot of women have committed themselves to a career as a police officer, it is a special calling and we are privileged.
“The women who went before us, blazed the way, we can work anywhere in the organisation if we wanted too.
“We just need to commit and believe we can do it.
“The organisation needs to change and it needs to shift in its thinking, the more of us in positions of influence it that can shift the thinking and we can change the way of policing in PNG, I believe strongly in that.”