New and different station for stressed-out Malvern police

Relief at last!

Garfield Myers

Thursday, September 01, 2011

MALVERN, St Elizabeth – IT looks like a large greenhouse or perhaps a warehouse. But police personnel in Malvern aren't complaining.

Four years after Hurricane Dean devastated the historic police station and courthouse, the Malvern police are eagerly awaiting completion of a rectangular, prefabricated galvanised structure just adjacent.

Since Hurricane Dean, law officers in this quiet highlands town have operated from a small, cramped room once used for Petty Sessions Court.

"We are really glad for it (new structure) and looking forward to moving in," District Constable Clifford Findlay, who has served the Malvern police for 27 years, told the Observer West on Monday.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Derrick Cochrane, who heads the Police Area Four comprising St Elizabeth, Manchester and Clarendon, told the Observer West that completion date was set for the end of September.

"I am told that it is 1,800 square feet in size which from the perspective of the police is larger than their previous space," Cochrane said yesterday.

"It will be all inclusive and it will have living accommodation," the Assistant Commissioner added.

"This comes as a great relief to the men and women serving in Malvern who have been greatly challenged for too long and have given yeoman service over all those years of discomfort and inconvenience," Cochrane said.

Efforts yesterday to get word from the Ministry of National Security regarding the cost of the project failed. However, back in 2009 when the foundation for the pre-fabricated building was being built the project cost was estimated by ministry officials at $8.5 million.

Back in 2009, then chief of police in St Elizabeth, Superintendent Merrick Watson, championed the need for a "proper" police station for the Malvern police region.

Describing it as crucial, he said: "We are talking about a very large area between Santa Cruz and Junction, which, while it is not a high crime area has a lot of people residing there including many returning residents. They require the constant presence of the police as a deterrent. So clearly there has to be a police station, properly structured and staffed, up and running," Watson said then.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the new building will not be used for court sessions.

The upper floor of the old building was a primary centre for court sessions in St Elizabeth prior to Hurricane Dean.

It's unclear what is to be done with the standing shell of the old building. It dates back 120 years.

One man who will never forget the night the Malvern police station and courthouse collapsed under the fury of Hurricane Dean is barber, Cleon Fagan. He was sleeping in his shop as Dean raged. He awoke to find himself buried from toe to chest under rubble, including bricks and large stones from the neighbouring upper floor which housed the courthouse. He managed to dig himself out with a piece of steel and escaped with severe bruising and cuts.

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New and different station for stressed-out Malvern police