Govt spending Gy$134M to remodel police stations

TIMES INT'L

The administration is in the process of remodelling several police stations following increasing social concerns about inadequate configuration and in tandem with new legislation to provide victim-friendly environments.

At his weekly post cabinet press briefing on Wednesday, Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon explained that government recently green-lighted a contract to the tune of Gy$134.5 million for the rehabilitation of stations in Regions Three, Four and Five.

“These are the main police stations on the East Coast from Sparendaam up to Region Five and the one at Leonora and this Gy$134.5 million would cater for six to eight stations,” he pointed out.Dr Luncheon noted that a number of issues have been raised about custodial facilities at police stations and reflects a thrust by the Home Affairs Ministry and Guyana Police Force to provide reasonable services to detained individuals.

He reiterated that the remodelling and rehabilitation of police stations is a reaction to the many complaints about improper custodial facilities at some stations such as at Brickdam and East La Penitence which were both recently renovated.

“Most of you would know that many of these police stations have been around for the last 20 years, such as the Kitty Police Station and some others, 40 years and so on. The Cabinet secretary stated that in light of the advancing of information communications technology and its importance to crime fighting and crime prevention in Guyana, archaic station buildings must be updated with clean energy systems to be linked into Guyana’s intelligence network.

There has been mounting concerns about treatment given to victims of sexual and domestic violence in addition to the conditions under which detained suspects are held.

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