MONTEGO BAY, St James — Chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation Detective Sergeant Patrae Rowe has welcomed efforts by the Government to repair police stations across the island in an effort to make life easier for police officers and the public they serve.

“We definitely welcome the development; we believe that it is unprecedented. I don’t think, in recent history, we have had this level of response with the number of police plants that are being developed or that are being refurbished, and we have said to the Government as well that, in addition to doing the development and refurbishing, there needs to be a rigid maintenance programme to ensure that these facilities do not fall in a state of disrepair,” said Rowe.

He also acknowledged that it is not only a responsibility for the Government but also one for “internal managers to ensure that they give equal effort in managing both the human and physical resource, because we will fall back in the same position if there is not a strong maintenance programme”.

Sergeant Rowe was reacting yesterday to a recent announcement by National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang that six police facilities are earmarked for repairs under a $235-million European Union (EU)-funded Poverty Reduction Programme (PRP) later this year.

“The conditions of our police stations are so poor that there is a greater need for wide-scale development. One of the things that we have been saying is that Government must ensure that they purpose build — [ensure] they build facilities that can accommodate policing, accommodate customers who require police service, and not just buildings that they put police in,” Sergeant Rowe argued.

In addition to the six police stations to be repaired — Adelphi and Mount Salem in St James; Denham Town and Franklyn Town in Kingston; Lionel Town and Four Paths in Clarendon — work has already been done on a number of other stations. More stations have also been earmarked for repairs in coming months.

— Horace Hines