HOPEWELL, Hanover — A grateful head of the police in this parish, Superintendent Sharon Beeput, has lauded the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) for the role it played in making the long push to have a permanent police post in Hopewell a reality.

Hopewell is fast becoming a crime hot spot and the nearest police station is located approximately three and a half miles away in Sandy Bay.

Following five years of lobbying, the green light has been given for the establishment of the facility. This came about with a September 23 signing ceremony that allows the Jamaica Constabulary Force to lease HMC-owned property at a peppercorn rate of $1,000 per year for 50 years.

“The lease agreement for the Hopewell police station has now been signed. I just want to thank you; we have started to look at the location already. The team will be back on Friday for clearance and so,” Superintendent Beeput told Thursday’s meeting of the HMC.

In July of last year, the Jamaica Observer reported that the HMC had decided to forgo thousands of dollars in annual revenue for the property in order to facilitate the establishment of a well-needed post in that coastal town.

The space was once occupied by the Electoral Office of Jamaica which at that time was paying more than $250,000 per annum for a section of the building.

It will need to be renovated but Beeput has shied away from giving a time frame for completion of the work that has to be done before cops can move in.

“It depends on the scope of work that we will have to do,” said Beeput.

She added that the permanent post will assist the police immensely in carrying out their duties.

“It is really, really needed for that space because of the traffic congestion, the number of business establishments, and sometimes you have persons calling about the noise over back in the Great River side. I am happy for it and I am hoping that it goes speedily in getting it on the way,” she said.

When established, the post is expected to meet the needs of some 20 communities which are among 51 that the Sandy Bay Police Station now serves.