Mount Salem Police Station to get $45m upgrade
Published:Friday | November 6, 2020 | 12:11 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The community of Mount Salem in St James, a section of which has been under a zone of special operations (ZOSO) for the past three years, is to get a state-of-the-art police station as the security initiative winds down.
This was revealed on Wednesday by Omar Sweeney, managing director of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund, which has been handling the social-intervention aspect of the ZOSO, which was first instituted in September 2007 and has been extended several times since.
“We will be signing the contract for the upgrade of the police station this month at a cost of roughly $45 million,” Sweeney told The Gleaner.
He said that the new facility will have a citizen-friendly design that will allow civilians to enter the police station without being exposed to the armoury of the police.
“You can walk in there and not see a bunch of guns and be ushered into a consultation room that will present a certain level of confidentiality,” said Sweeney. “We have integrated all of that into the design aspect. ... This is not only for the citizens; it is also for the hard-working policemen and women who have been clamouring for that.”
Two years ago, the Jamaica Constabulary Force scrambled to effect repairs to the police station, which was ordered closed by the St James Public Health Department, which had deemed the facility unfit for human habitation.
Among the issues cited were an overflowing of sewage on the compound, evidence of rodent infestation, and the generally poor condition of the facility.
When the ZOSO was first declared in Mount Salem, based on crime statistics that turned out to be inaccurate, residents took strong objection to the move, saying the community was being unfairly targeted.
However, they have since embraced the initiative, especially after the social-intervention aspect started with road repairs; the replacement of zinc fencing with concrete walls; and a project to help residents acquire birth certificates, passports, Taxpayer Registration Numbers, and other documents needed to conduct business.