By Petulia Clarke, Staff Reporter
Constable Glenford Miller points to the dilapidated building housing the toilets for policemen at the Buff Bay Police Station. - Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer
THE GOVERNMENT'S plan to repair dilapidated police stations across the island has gotten under way with over 40 per cent of some 158 police stations slated for repairs.
The Ministry of National Security/National Works Agency plan is geared at renovating shabby stations and was introduced by Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips last August in an effort to ensure that the security forces were given a working environment to fully focus their efforts on fighting crime.
This comes against the background of numerous police stations being reported needing repairs with police officers complaining of having to work under deplorable conditions, including a lack of proper sanitary conveniences.
Communications advisor at the Ministry, Donovan Nelson said the programme includes fixing leaks and doing paint jobs on the stations most of which are badly in need of repair.
"We are on schedule and repairs have started," he said. "All have been scheduled for repairs and a lot of them especially the older ones are on (the list) for various problems."
These include problems pointed out during a Gleaner tour of the Buff Bay Police Station in Portland on Monday, which showed a century-old wooden building literally rotting on its foundation.
Inspector in charge of the station Anthony Scott told The Gleaner that he almost fell through one of the floors into the cellar recently as the floorboards have rotted away. The policemen there have had to put plyboard over other areas where there are holes in the floor.
The guardroom, recreation room, holding area, kitchen and bathrooms are worse off, with dilapidated furniture, termite eaten walls, leaky roofs and mould.
Inspector Scott said that conditions are so bad that the prisoners in cells have to be escorted with their slop buckets past the kitchen and to a nearby manhole, as there is no toilet facility on the cellblock to dump the waste.
In fact, he showed the newsteam the lavatories that the police persons have to use two toilets in a muddy area. He said that when it rains conditions are worse, as the officers have to set buckets to catch water from the leaky roof.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Anthony Davis, administrative officer for Portland said that he has done several reports on the conditions at the station and inspections are done at least once per month.
Mr. Nelson said that he was sure that Buff Bay was on the list of stations that needed repairs.
"I'm not sure where it is on the list, but repairs will be done," he said. "It's an ongoing programme and all of those for repairs will be dealt with."
