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Mount Salem welcomes new police station

Residents grateful for new facility

Published:Friday | July 16, 2021 | 12:08 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
From left: Major General Antony Anderson, commissioner of police, Heroy Clarke, member of parliament, Central St James, Dr Horace Chang, minister of National Security, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Dr Dwayne Henry, chairman, Jamaica Social Investment Fund
Ashley Anguin
From left: Major General Antony Anderson, commissioner of police, Heroy Clarke, member of parliament, Central St James, Dr Horace Chang, minister of National Security, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Dr Dwayne Henry, chairman, Jamaica Social Investment Fund and Director General, Planning Institute of Jamaica and Ambassador Marianne Van Steen, head of the European Union Delegation to Jamaica during the handover of the Mount Salem Police Station, St James

WESTERN BUREAU:

The new Mount Salem Police Station in Montego Bay, which is a legacy project tied to the zone of special operations (ZOSO), which was declared in the St James community in 2017, was officially handed over by Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Wednesday.

The new police station, which was funded by the European Union under the poverty reduction programme, was constructed at a cost of $45 million by the social investment fund. It features a reception area, a resource room, an exhibit room, an armoury, an interview room, two offices, a kitchen, and adequate bathroom facilities.

According to Angella Hall, a resident of the community, who is an employee of Western Park and Market, the new-look police station is expected to spark a greater level of collaboration between the police and the community.

“It is certainly a good feeling, and I am now comfortable to enter the compound and the building to share ideas with the police officers that will further advance our community,” Hall told The Gleaner.

Like Hall, Winsome Barnes, president of the Mount Salem Community Development Committee, is overjoyed at getting the new facility and is looking forward to a new era of policing in the community.

“It could not have come at a more opportune time, even as the community changes for good,” said Barnes. “It will definitely enhance the working conditions of our police officers who are serving the community.”

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Holness said that his Government is pleased with the structural appearance of the facility, which forms part of several long-term investments in the wider community.

“Putting this station here in proximity to the zone of special operations in Mount Salem is strategic,” said Holness. “Of course, the station was always here, but we decided that as a part of our crime-fighting strategy, in addition to the short-term operational interventions that will bring the murder rate down in the area, we will make some long-term investments, and this is one of them.”

The prime minister noted that since 2015, prior to the 2017 declaration of the ZOSO, there has been a marked improvement in the lives of the people of Mount Salem.

“I visited Mount Salem on tour in 2015, and I visited several times since, and I can tell you Mount Salem is a different place… the people of Mount Salem, they know this, they appreciate this, and they understand what the Government is doing,” stated Holness.

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