‘Police station supposed to lock at night?’…Port Royal resident upset

Head of the East Kingston Police Superintendent Victor Hamilton has described as “unacceptable” reports that residents are being turned away from the police station in the seaside town of Port Royal whenever they show up at “certain time” of the night to lodge complaints.

Hamilton was reacting to questions posed by an elderly resident during a town hall-style meeting hosted last night by a number of government agencies to provide an update on some of the development plans for the historic town.

The elderly man related one instance when, according to him, there was an incident and his wife went to the Port Royal police station to make a complaint and was asked if she “can’t wait ‘til a mawnin’”.

“Right now in this town, there is a whole heapa things taking place and the police dem gone to bed certain time,” he said to loud applause from other residents.

“And even when people go to the station to make reports they are being refused because people a tell them say ‘why you a come dem time yah, you can’t wait ‘til a mawnin’,” he said before directing a question to Hamilton.

“Police station supposed to lock at night?”

Hamilton acknowledged that the doors to a police station can be closed at night, but said: “that does not mean that the police should not be up and on the alert to attend to the calls of the citizens.”

“Thank you for that information, sir. I am, indeed, surprised to know that residents are being turned back because police officers are saying that it is too late for them to work,” he said.

“That is unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, residents voiced concerns about the fact that there is no fire truck at the Port Royal fire station.

Superintendent Jodi-Ann Davis-Buckle of the Jamaica Fire Brigade indicated that attempts are now being made to retrofit a fire truck that would be assigned to Port Royal.

“As it is now, there are no available units to be placed in Port Royal. We are trying to retrofit one that we have in our garage to see how best we can get it up and running to place it here,” she said.

Davis-Buckle acknowledged that in July a similar initiative failed.

“A truck came here for maybe about two weeks and went down again. It is a genuine concern.”

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