By Rayon Dyer, Gleaner WriterBLACK RIVER, St. Elizabeth:
POLICE PERSONNEL at the Black River Police Station are now without telephone service due to the non-payment of bills. They are now forced to use their own cellular phones as substitute.
Checks with the station revealed that the only phone which has not been disconnected is the one in the Superintendent's office.
Sources close to the St. Elizabeth Police headquarters told The Gleaner that the telephone lines at the front desk, the general office, the Criminal Investigative Branch (CIB) department and other key offices within the headquarters were disconnected.
"Only the superintendent can make calls out of here. Other officers have to use their cellular phones to make calls in relation to the job or make no call at all," the source said.
The Gleaner also learned that 11 police stations in the parish have been affected.
"This cannot be good for national security. We need to be in a position to talk to our colleague, who would be out in the field from time to time," one officer said.
The local police is the second state body to be similarly incovenienced recently. The offices of the Victim Support Programme in St. Elizabeth, Manchester and Westmoreland also had their telephone lines disconnected, due to non-payment of bills.
