DARLISTON, Westmoreland — THE Westmoreland Health Department has ordered the closure of the Darliston Police Station, citing the deplorable state of the structure that houses the facility.

According to a highly placed source at the health department, the notice was served on Monday, following a visit to the facility earlier this month-the second visit since the start of the year.

Last year personnel from the health department also reportedly visited the police station after which a report was allegedly submitted to the police hierarchy, regarding the dilapidated state of the building.

“An inspection was done last year and it was found that the facility was in a deplorable condition. A letter was then sent to the police but nothing was done. An inspection was carried out this month and the situation was still not changed so a closure notice was ordered,” said a usually reliable Jamaica Observer West source.

The dilapidated state of the police station was again brought to the fore last week after a woman corporal sustained injuries after a section of the rotten flooring at the facility broke away.

The female law enforcer is now on sick leave and is recuperating at home after she was released from a medical facility, following treatment.

“The police federation is extremely concerned about the condition here. We have been grappling with this matter for a while. We spoke to the minister (of security) recently about the Darliston Police Station. However, yesterday (last Thursday) one of our members fell through the flooring and as a result she got injured to her leg and to her pelvic area,” revealed Sergeant Cecil McCalla, who along with Corporal Rohan James from the police federation, visited the station on Friday, following the incident.

During their visit, the two police federation representatives, along with Member of Parliament for Eastern Westmoreland Luther Buchanan-in whose constituency the station is located-and Trevor Jamieson, councillor for the Darliston Division, were seen gingerly treading the rotten board flooring in the room where the female cop was injured.

Following a tour of the run-down structure, the police federation representatives and the two politicians went next door to inspect a section of another building which houses the post office. The Observer West was later told that provisions are being made to relocate the operations of the police station there.

“We have identified a property next door which is a part of the post office and have discussions with the minister with responsibility for that entity, and he gave the go-ahead for us to look at that facility with a view for us to move to that facility,” Sergeant McCalla explained.

“We have no intention to let our members remain in this condition. So we are working closely with the Member of Parliament and we are finding suitable alternatives to ensure that as quickly as possible we can relocate our members.”

At that time, he expressed the intent to move over to the nearby building at the start of this week.

However when the Observer West team returned to the area yesterday, police officers were still occupying the ramshackle structure.

Superintendent Carol McKenzie, commander of the Westmoreland Police Division, later told our news team that the operations are expected to be relocated to a section of the post office by next Monday, following repairs scheduled to start this week.

“The ministry of national security is coming to effect some repairs to the post office tomorrow (Wednesday) so that we can move in by next Monday,” he told the Observer West on Tuesday.

Buchanan, in the meantime, noted that for quite some time he has been making representation for the relocation of the station.

“The ministry is moving at a rapid pace currently to alleviate this unfortunate situation. I know that the ministry of national security has plans to reconstruct the Darliston Police Station,” he pointed out.