GRANVILLE, St James – Councillor Michael Troupe says he is prepared to take to the streets in protest if that’s what it takes to get the Granville Police Station, razed by fire almost two years ago, back up and running. He had been hoping funds would have been allocated for the project in the budget recently presented to the nation but said he was left “very disappointed”.

“I’ve asked the question several times in council; we’ve had community meetings, we talk about it and they say they are preparing, they’re doing the drawing,” he said in response to queries about the status of the only police station within the sometimes violence-prone division he represents. Troupe is a member of the Opposition People’s National Party.

“I was expecting that the budget that just read, we would have heard something about it; but not yet. I heard they talk about new station but Granville wasn’t mentioned,” he lamented.

“I’m going to ask the commanding officer for the parish for an update and then I’ll go back to the community meeting. And then if it takes demonstration to get it back, then we may have to do that,” he vowed.

Nestled between Fairfield and the entrance to Granville, the police station was partially destroyed by fire in May 2021. Operations were moved to the police post within Meadows of Irwin. Troupe has long complained that the current arrangement is far from ideal. His constituents in Granville, he said, are being short-changed.

“Some little matters you want to report, like your domestic matters before they get out of hand and the challenge is that sometimes they can’t find the fare to go around there,” he explained to the Jamaica Observer.

Granville, he said, has been doing really well in terms of keeping a lid on major crimes, but he is convinced that things would be even better with the refurbishing and reopening of the community’s police station. The local representative is not the only one who would like to see the Granville police back in their original location. Some residents of Meadows of Irwin are also hoping their police post will soon no longer be used for activities once handled in Granville. One major concern is that individuals, as part of their bail conditions, now enter the gated community to access the Meadows of Irwin police post.

“We are worried that some of these persons are coming in the scheme for other things other than to access the police station,” one tense female resident told Observer West. She is concerned that they may be assessing the area for future illegal activity. She did not wish to be identified by name.

Making it clear that she is not advocating barring individuals from entering, she cited the country’s current crime levels as justification for being concerned.

Vice-president of the Meadows of Irwin Citizens Association Kirk Hamilton said he is aware of the issue.

“I’ve heard persons making mention about the access. People say they are coming to the police post and if they do go to the police post, they find themselves going to other places, I’ve heard of that,” he told Observer West.

“The security guards really cannot determine if that’s true or not… And if it is something legal they are going to do, if we prevent them from coming in, they’ll have a reasonable case,” he added.

Another concerned resident who also asked not to be named stressed that the solution is to rebuild the Granville police post and put it back into use.

“It’s been a long, long time that I’ve been seeing this happening and would love to see them rebuild the station so that we don’t have to worry about these types of situations,” she said.