WESTERN BUREAU: A team from the Ministry of National Security will next Wednesday inspect the building that houses the Cambridge Police Station in St James with a view to either repairing the existing structure, or constructing a new station house.

The scheduled visit comes less than two months after policemen stationed there appealed to the Ministry to carry out repairs at the run-down facility.

The Cambridge Police Station has been in a deplorable state for more than 10 years now.

For example, in 1997, its lock-up was condemned as a result of its dilapidated state. Since then, persons taken into custody have had to be held at the Freeport Police Station lock-up, which is located some 15 miles away in Montego Bay.

In addition, lawmen at the Cambridge station complained that the floors of the barracks were rotten and that the building needed a fresh coat of paint.

“The windows at the station are not good, the doors are not secured and there are things falling out of the ceiling at us at nights,” said one of the 14 policemen who work at the station.

As a result of the poor condition of the building, the policemen also said that they have had to spend their nights patrolling the windows and doors in order to ensure their safety.

But project manager in the security ministry, Raymond Ramdatt, said the ministry would decide on a course of action following their visit there next Wednesday. And he stressed that the station would receive attention this year.

“We know that the conditions there are bad but we want to make sure whether it makes sense repairing it, or building a new one,” Ramdatt stated. “If we are going to repair it, then work could start in a matter of weeks.”

He added that during the course of this year, a number of police stations across western Jamaica would undergo major repairs.