Attorney General Freundel Stuart (centre) unveils the plaque to officially open Crab Hill Police Station. Also pictured from left are Chief Justice Sir David Simmons, Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin, Member of Parliament for St. Lucy, Denis Kellman and Minister of State in the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development, Patrick Todd.

After years of operating in less than adequate conditions, officers at the Crab Hill Police station can now boast of a modern spacious facility.

Speaking at the opening of the ultra-modern station last Wednesday evening, Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs, Freundel Stuart, said officers and residents of Crab Hill could “take comfort in the fact that they now have facilities that satisfy most of the criteria of modern police accommodation”.

Charging that the station had come on stream at a time when the Force had been “facing the huge challenge of identifying suitable accommodation for its members in times of disaster brought on by weather systems”, Deputy Prime Minister Stuart noted that, over the years, the Force had to acquire accommodation at schools and other buildings for the purpose of evacuating some stations which were susceptible to flooding and storm surge.

“The new Crab Hill Station will now allow the Force to free up some of the negotiated space. It is hoped that the need to commandeer facilities for this purpose will soon be a thing of the past,” he stressed.

Describing this country’s police stations to be in a “lamentable state of disrepair”, the Attorney General said his Office had been in continuous discussion with the Police about plans to remove these irritations. 

“It is intended that over the next few years this problem would be systematically tackled and wrestled to the ground.”

He revealed that Government had decided to construct a modern state-of- the-art station at Worthing to serve the areas now serviced by the Hastings and Worthing stations.  “The station at Hastings, itself in a horrible state of disrepair, will be retired and amalgamated with the Worthing facility,” he promised.

Mr. Stuart also gave the assurance that a new station will be built at Six + Roads, St. Philip, to replace the existing District ‘C’ station; and a new one to serve the District ‘B’ area at a still to be identified location in the parish of St. George; as well as facilities to replace the aged and structurally challenged stations at Black Rock and Belleplaine were in the pipeline.

“When these proposals are added to plans already in place to construct a facility at Wildey to ease the debilitating strain on District ‘A’; a facility at Cane Garden, St. Thomas, to replace the long closed Rock Hall offices and the facility at Tamarind Hall, already in the course of construction, to replace the dilapidated conditions at District ‘F’, it can be seen that over time, we should be able to substantially improve the physical conditions under which the officers of the Royal Barbados Police Force have to carry out their daily duties,”  Mr. Stuart said.

While acknowledging that the Crab Hill Police Station symbolised Government’s commitment to accelerate the progress of a cause that for too long lacked assistance, Minister Stuart noted that of no less importance to the Government were the conditions at Police Headquarters in Bridgetown where the administration of the Force discharged its daily responsibilities.

“For well-nigh two decades, the Force’s administration has had to make do with a nomadic kind of existence.  This situation cries out for relief and has been an agenda item between my Office and the Commissioner of Police,” he stressed.

The new Crab Hill Police Complex was built at a cost of some $3.7 million.

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