HEAD OF the Kingston East Police division, Superintendent Doric Sinclair, has renewed his plea for the lock-up at the Bull Bay Police Station to be repaired as quickly as possible.
Superintendent Sinclair, who is based at the Elletson Road station, told The Gleaner yesterday that the Bull Bay cell has been out of operation for nearly one year. There are nine police stations in the division with two lock-ups in total, but only the one at Vineyard Town is operating.
"We have been having some violence in areas like Melbrook Heights so we can't afford to have the cell out of condition," Mr. Sinclair said. "We have to be begging the people at Half-Way-Tree to take them."
As the Bull Bay station is near to the sea, the elements have taken a toll on its concrete walls and eroded the cell's steel bars. The cell at Bull Bay can accommodate eight persons while the lock-up at the Vineyard Town Police Station, can hold a maximum of six persons.
He stressed that with violence on the rise in East Kingston it is critical that the holding area be repaired.
Because of this problem, he says his staff have had to transfer detainees to the Half-Way-Tree Police lock-up. Other detainees, he added, have been released.
NO WORD FROM MINISTRY
Mr. Sinclair says he last spoke about the condition of the cell to officials from the Ministry of National Security's Project Department in September following Hurricane Ivan, but despite assurances that it would have been repaired he has not heard from them since.
Attempts by The Gleaner since Wednesday to get a response from the security ministry's Project Department were unsuccessful.
The Kingston East Police division covers some of the Jamaican capital's toughest areas including Mountain View, Rockfort and Rollington Town. Franklin Town, Elletson Road, Harbour View and Port Royal are the other communities in the division's radius.
Mountain View has experienced a resurgence of violence since the start of the year, while three men from Harbour View were killed at a dance last Saturday in Melbrook Heights, a squatter settlement overlooking the Harbour View housing scheme.
Dilapidated police stations and overcrowded cells have been a sore point for the Jamaica Constabulary Force for some time. In October 1992, three men --- Agana Barrett, Vassell Brown and Ian Forbes --- suffocated while they were locked up at the Constant Spring Police Station.
They were among 19 persons in the 56 square foot cell.
