By Roy Sanford, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
POLICE OFFICERS stationed at the Amity Hall Police Station in St. James are having a difficult time coping with the dilapidated conditions existing there.
During a tour of the facility by The Gleaner on Tuesday officers said they had to deal with broken windows, wooden walls being ravaged by ants, poor bathroom facilities and generally uncomfortable surroundings. "This station is in a deplorable state," said Troy Graham, who has been assigned to the station for just one month. "This is way below the standard fit for a civil servant."
No one seems to know the age of the building but one officer said that her 70-year-old mother claims that she know of its existence from since she was a small child. During The Gleaner's visit a hole was seen in the floor of the officer's bedroom and the wall was seen in a crumbling state, which officers said was the work of wood ants. But the conditions of the bathroom were the most deplorable with a floor that is falling away and no doors to conceal privacy.
PROTECTING IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS
"We use a pit latrine but in its current state it is hardly useable," one officer said. Officers also said that in order to protect important documents, cardboard is used on windows to block out the rain.
When The Gleaner contacted Donovan Nelson, a spokesperson at the Ministry of National Security, he said that help would soon be on the way for the officers. "The Amity Hall Police Station, as well as a number of other police stations, were visited recently by the Minister of National Security," he said. "However, I don't have a time table for the repairs."
