Radio caller blames district rep for closure of WE Police Station
The caller made his position clear during a call on the Speak Out BVI radio show hosted by Douglas Wheatley on ZBVI 780 am last evening April 7, 2015.
“Some weeks ago in the House of Assembly I heard the First District Representative talking about the Police Station…my question is this: I would like to know if the Police Station in West End just started deteriorating since the Government change or it has been deteriorating for the last 12 years that he been there,” said the caller.
“Now tell me…if I running a district and I been there for 12 years I should know whether the Police Station deteriorate or not within the time I been there instead of waiting until 2015,” the caller said.
“I am not saying that the Government don’t have to do it, the Government has to do what it has to do. But I figure if you running your district for 12 years…I don’t think you should be telling the Government that they should fix the Police Station when you been there for 12 years,” said the caller.
“You are claiming that the people sent you there then do the work of the people and I figure that that is part of the work of the people,” said the caller. “Let’s be for real…people have to learn to be fair,” he said.
“I agree that the Government needs to do the work of the people but it has been there for 12 years and it should have been fixed,” the caller said.
Wheatley said that because of the nature of the functions of the Police Station, it should be of highest priority.
“Just as you said, they need to jump on it regardless of the history behind it and try and have it up and running,” he said.
Hon Fahie responds
Meanwhile, Honourable Fahie told Virgin Islands News Online today April 8, 2015 that repairs and maintenance of the West End Police Station and all public structures are ongoing tasks.
“They are not ‘one off’ exercises. Repairs to the West End Police Station were done numerous times by the last Administration of which I was a member. The facts will reveal that the then Minister of Finance [Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal OBE (R9)] always ensured that whatever funding was needed by the police was made available forthwith,” he said.
He noted that the security of the territory was not given lip service but was a major priority of the last Administration.
“The current state of the West End Police Station over the last 2 years and not 12 years as is now being suggested could have been minimised and even avoided if the funds to address the problems were made available. Had this been done then this would not be a current issue. Had this matter been given the urgent attention it deserved then this would be a non-issue in the public domain,” he said.
“As the representative, I brought the concerns as well as possible solutions to the relevant authorities numerous times but they kept falling on deaf ears seeing no action was forthcoming. Money could not be an issue because the record clearly shows that while this Administration was claiming that the Territory was left broke by the last Administration they still found over eighteen million dollars to spend in consultancy and this list can go on and on in this vein,” he said.
“I know that under this current Administration that we cannot get everything we want in the First District but what I can't understand is why we can't get the things that we need. The security of our First District and our territory transcends politics,” he said.
West End Police Station being addressed - Premier Smith
Premier Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith late last year had said that the matter of law and order is one that the Government takes very seriously and that it was taking steps to repair the Police Station as soon as it was possible to do so.
According to the Premier, the cost to rectify the issues at the station was $165,380 and that a tender process had been engaged.
“My Government has no plans to permanently close the West End Police Station,” Dr Smith had said.
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23 Responses to “Radio caller blames district rep for closure of WE Police Station”
NDP hard at work trying to blame others for their wicked ways.
The police station deteriorated in two(2) short years!!! What fools you think we are?
is so deteriated is poor maintenence. It is not an over night thing,
it was on going with poor maintenance.
I still think the Rep could have something to while in position and
obviously did minimum to say the lease.
Stop kidding yourself he needs to accept some responsibility, concrete
dont riot overnight.
Instead of bloggers acting like fools, say stright up he drop the ball. How
come other districts has police stations and not closed should tell you something.
Not accepting responsibility say alot about yourself. This is the worst i've seen andrew
campaigning yet.