Construction of St Mary Police facilities begins

Construction of a building to house the Area Two Police Headquarters, the St Mary Divisional Headquarters and the Port Maria Police Station, is officially underway.

The building is being constructed at a cost of $250 million from the National Housing Trust (NHT).

The four-storey, 2,800 square foot facility will also house living quarters for the police and a cell block.

Fire, in 2006, had destroyed the Port Maria Police Station, forcing the lawmen to relocate to a rented property. The Area Two Headquarters is also housed in rented premises in Pompano Plaza, Tower Isle, St Mary.

Work on the building of the new police facilities was originally slated to begin in 2018 when ground was broken by then National Security Minister, Robert Montague.The proposed structure was to consist of three floors at a cost of $60 million. However, several problems, including land acquisition, forced its  postponement.

Speaking during a ground-breaking ceremony yesterday, National Security Minister, Dr Horace Chang, said construction is to be completed by December 2022.

Underscoring the impact that the facility is expected to have on the morale and effectiveness of the police, Chang said the government’s commitment to improving police stations island wide is being backed by a plan to also improve the weaponry and equipment used by the police.   

“We are providing officers with tools such as non-lethal weapons and modern technology to expand the security force’s crime-fighting capacity,” Chang said. “I am confident that once the officers are given the right tools and better working conditions, they will be more efficient in carrying out their duties.” 

Five other police stations in St Mary have been refurbished since 2018, at a cost of just over $64 million. The police stations are: Annotto Bay, Highgate, Prospect, Castleton and Islington, which is still being completed.   

Chang also toured several police stations in St Mary on Friday, among them Castleton, Oracabessa and Prospect, where repairs costing $7.4 million were carried out.

Senior General Manager at the NHT, Donald Moore, said the funding of these projects is the Trust’s way of contributing to the building of the nation.

Commissioner of Police, Major General Antony Anderson, said the new facility will foster a better relationship between the police and citizens. Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for Central St Mary, Dr Morais Guy, in hailing the new police facility, urged citizens to play an active role in helping to fight crime, as the task is not for the police alone.

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