Sandy Bay has new police station

“Before I am finished with this term, every single police station in this country will be touched by me.”

This was Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves’ proud boast to Searchlight Newspaper as he toured the new Sandy Bay Police Station with a number of senior police officers and officials on Monday.{{more}}

Minutes earlier, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves delivered the feature address at the opening ceremony of the building, in which he gave a run down of the work done on police stations since his Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration came into office in 2001.

According to the Prime Minister, 17 of the 24 stations in St. Vincent and the Grenadines have had work done on them or have been completely rebuilt, in the last seven years.

The first being the Canouan Police Station, which he claimed had been in a state of disrepair.

“When I saw the police station, I invited the police officers to protest,” he said. “We then set about to build undoubtedly the most magnificent police station to be built anywhere in the Caribbean.”

Dr. Gonsalves also made mention of another “masterpiece”- the Biabou Station and the other stations rebuilt in Owia, Marriaqua and Rose Hall. Currently, a new police station is being constructed in Questelles, and plans are being made to reconstruct the Spring Village police station.

According to Dr. Gonsalves, renovation work is being done on stations in Chateaubelair, Barrouallie, Layou, Stubbs, Mesopotamia and the Central Police Station in Kingstown.

Restoration work was also done on the Calliaqua station, with plans for an extension, and designs for a brand new station in Georgetown have been completed, with construction set to begin very soon.

The Georgetown station is expected to be equipped with high quality fire fighting capabilities to service the northern end of the country.

Plans are also in the pipeline for a new station in Union Island, which will also house an immigration department.

The Prime Minister also mentioned the housing of two Rapid Response Units (RRUs) in Layou and Prospect.

During his address, the Prime Minister also mentioned the construction of the minimum security prison in Belle Isle on the leeward side of the country, which is expected to be completed soon.

He also touched on equipment recently purchased by the police force, including mobile units, SUVs, motorcycles, a coast guard vessel and radar equipment.

These renovations and equipment, the Prime Minister said, will assist the police officers throughout the country in carrying out their duties more proficiently and competently.

Construction work is also expected to be carried out on the Old Montrose, Paget Farm and Port Elizabeth police stations.