Improvements coming to police stations in Hanover

Six police stations in Hanover, which are in varying state of disrepair, are among 18 police stations islandwide that are to benefit from the Ministry of National Security's project #150thStationFixup.

The project, which forms a part of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), is designed to carry out repair work to police stations through a collaborative effort involving the ministry, the police and key stakeholders in the local communities.

Dennis Howell, the director of building projects and equipment in the Ministry of National Security, told a meeting of stakeholders in Hanover recently that before the end of the current financial year, the Hanover projects submitted under the programme will be implemented.

Under the programme, the leadership at police stations were asked to submit requests for repairs, not exceeding $250,000 per station. There was an acknowledgement that some stations will need more funding, but the station leaders were asked to prioritise.

According to Howell, work has not been carried out under the programme on any of the six selected stations in Hanover because his department had not received any submissions from the parish.

This was rejected by the leadership of the Hanover police, which claimed that submissions were made to the ministry for all stations in the parish twice.

Confronted with that information, Howell asked for a third submission of the documents so that the approval process can start with a view to starting work shortly.

"I just want to have these estimates in my hand to approve the work; so if I get them by the end of the week, the work should start ...," said Howell.

"We would love for all of them to be completed before the end of the financial year," added Howell.

The six Hanover police stations to get a facelift are Sandy Bay, Ramble, Kingsvale, Green Island, the

Lucea police post and the police headquarters in Lucea.