St James SSP projects another year for new Granville police station
Published:Friday | March 1, 2024 | 12:07 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
ST JAMES’ SENIOR Superintendent of Police Vernon Ellis is estimating that the long-awaited rebuilding of the Granville Police Station, which was destroyed by fire in May 2021, may be complete and ready to serve the people of Granville and surrounding communities by 2025.
Ellis proposed the completion date while addressing a question-and-answer session at the Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College’s [SSTC] staging of its Research Day at its campus in Granville on Wednesday. The event was held under the theme ‘The Impact of Crime on Education: the Western Jamaica Perspective’.
“Based on the progression that I’ve seen, I can’t tell you exactly the date, but I know that for this year we should be seeing the Granville station. We got a brand new station at Mt Salem two years ago, we have a brand new station at Adelphi, and then at Anchovy we’re on [construction of] the second floor for a purpose-built station. Things are pretty much transforming now, we’re building them eco-friendly, we’re using solar energy, and quite a few stuff,” said Ellis.
“You are going to see a state-of-the-art police station at the entrance at Granville there, and based on the plans and the meetings that I have been attending and the persons who have been coming down [for construction discussions], looking at how they did the building of the other stations that I have received since I have been here, I think within a year you should have that Granville location. I must say, it’s going to be a pretty fine multistorey type of thing,” Ellis added.
Residents of Granville have long been clamouring for the rebuilding of their local police station, following a fire that razed the building on May 18, 2021 and caused some $20 million in damage. The calls for the station’s rebuilding have increased over the past two years since then, with concerns that residents are at the mercy of criminals and that petty crimes, if left unchecked, could spiral into more serious offences.
The operations at the former police station, which had previously served 7,000 residents in Granville and neighbouring districts before its destruction, are currently being undertaken at the Irwin police post.
Ellis noted that the construction plans for the new police station will include community-friendly facilities, including a resource centre for students.
“When we moved into building the station [alongside] the persons from the Ministry of National Security who have that responsibility, we kept a community meeting, because we want you to have a say in the type of police station that you want. The persons requested from us that a resource centre be built on it, so there could be homework for kids, and kids could meet there, and so the architect and the other persons responsible, they have factored that into the plan,” Ellis explained.
“With proximity policing, you have a police station, and you’re driving past the station, and you feel a little more comfortable, even though you don’t have to go over there. You just want to know the police station is there, and it serves as a reassurance,” Ellis continued.
“We want you to be a part of what we’re doing, so you come for a conference room, you come for a community meeting, and your kids come for their homework programme if they don’t have internet, so we’re building that into the facility.”
The new 50-man station is slated to be built on the site of the former station, at the entrance to the Granville community, with additional land space donated by Barnett Limited, owned by prominent landowner Mark Kerr-Jarrett.