PORT MARIA, St Mary — Minister of National Security Peter Bunting has described as unacceptable the Port Maria Police Station in St Mary and has assured that the facility will soon be relocated.

Bunting, who was on a tour of police stations across the parish recently, said every effort would be made to have members of the constabulary force stationed at Port Maria operate from a more tolerable facility.

“Of course, the Port Maria station is absolutely unacceptable for a facility for our policemen and women,” he said after doing a walk-through of the building located on Main Street, and which has been described as unfit to host residents.

“We are determined to get them out of this facility in the shortest possible time and get them into another building that has been identified in Port Maria which will be suitable once we spend maybe seven or eight million dollars to upgrade that facility,” Bunting told reporters.

He said when the upgrading works are completed the new facility will also accommodate other officers who are now located at two other premises in the parish capital.

“When the refurbishing is complete, it should be quite comfortable; it won’t be subject to flooding and the exigencies that this one needs,” Bunting said. “(In) this building the air-conditioning units are no longer working, etc, so it’s a very challenging environment for the policemen and women to operate out of.”

The security minister would not give a timeline for the commencement of the refurbishment, but said it will be a priority once Government presents the Budget.

“As soon as that (Budget) pass we are determined and I am giving an undertaking that this will be one of our first priorities,” Bunting said.

The 2012-2013 Estimates of Expenditure were tabled in Parliament last Thursday at a total of $612.4 billion.

The minister said Government would have to look at acquiring its own premises to be used as police stations.

“In the medium term I would say probably a five-year outlook. I think we could undertake that approach, but in this year which will probably be the tightest budgetary year in memory, it will be difficult to undertake that sort of expenditure,” he said.

According to him, construction of a new facility would cost the government about $200M.

The Port Maria station was gutted by fire in 1988 and since then it has operated from several different locations throughout the town. Its current location was once used as a furniture store and residents as well as the police have long complained about the conditions, especially when it rains. They’ve had to use ‘boats’ to evacuate, the cops told Bunting.

The national security minister, who was on his first tour of police facilities in Area II, with specific focus on the St Mary police division, said while some of the other stations were in relatively good condition, others needed minor repairs.