Full speed ahead with work on Hopewell Police Station
Published:Saturday | January 6, 2024 | 12:06 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The police station being built in Hopewell, Hanover is now looking like it will be ready to be served in soon as work has been taking place on the facility daily since the middle of December 2023.
Following concerns by several residents within the Hopewell community and its surrounding districts and Chairman of the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) and Mayor of Lucea Sheridan Samuels, about the length of time it was taking to bring the much-needed facility into being, it would seem that their voices have been heard.
Although no direct word or advisory has come from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) with regard to the planned opening of the facility, word on the ground is that plans are to have the facility opened before the end of January.
“Several proposed opening dates have been announced and have all been missed, so the high command is playing it safe and will not be disclosing another proposed opening date. But with the level of work now taking place they are looking towards the end of January,” a police source told The Gleaner.
The source said that when all is in place and the facility is ready to be opened then a function will be planned and implemented for the occasion.
The under-construction Hopewell Police Station has come into being through an initiative of former superintendent of police in charge of Hanover, Sharon Beeput, who with approval from her superiors in the force approached the HMC for the lease of property in the fast-growing economic centre in the parish, an area which from time to time has law and order issues.
Custos expresses satisfaction
A HMC property in Hopewell, with a building on it, was identified and following discussions it was eventually leased at a peppercorn rate of $10,000 per year to the JCF for the establishment of a police station. The official lease has been in place for over a year now, but serious work on the refurbishing of the building and other construction works began in the latter part of 2023.
Custos of Hanover, Dr David Stair, who is also a resident of Hopewell, expressed satisfaction in an interview with The Gleaner at an increase in the pace of work now taking place.
“We need that facility like yesterday, we need more policing in the Hopewell area as soon as possible because of what is happening around us, and I am hoping that they will get it done, and get it done soon, and get it up to steam, and provide some amount of increase and easier access to the (police) services,” he stated.
Pointing to the fact that the nearest police station to the Hopewell community is in Sandy Bay, a few kilometres away, Stair expressed the view that the area being covered by that station is a little too wide to be properly policed.
“I am just hoping that the increased activity (at the Hopewell facility) will take us through to the opening of the facility, as I know that the whole community of Hopewell and all its adjoining districts are really glad and waiting anxiously for the services to be available there,” he stated.
Stair is hoping that one of the first problems that will be attacked when the police station is up and running is the daily traffic congestion in Hopewell, adding that “it can be really terrible and frustrating at times”.