And as the Cabinet release mentioned - they want police operations to escalate. And this morning on Sunup, the commissioner said a number of police officers are being transferred from San Ignacio because they are too comfortable in their hometown:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Commissioners before me had the belief that when you send police officers to their home, you get more from them and I think it was a good way of thinking on the part of the previous commissioners but I have a different idea. For me, when you send police to work home, they are too comfortable, they are too complacent, they know everybody and getting them to do the work is the hardest thing to do because they too acquainted and at the end of the day as much as you would want to see police working home where they can be more comfortable, with their families, the people who end up suffering are the public that we're supposed to serve and we are service oriented, we have to make sure that the service we deliver to the people is what the people deserve so I am not going to sacrifice the safety of the public for a police officer to work home and be comfortable, and so my belief has always been, I'll send you away from where you live, or away from where you're from. During my years as police, I have never worked home and wherever I go and work, I live because I don't want to have to be commuting but you find many of the police officers, they work somewhere, and then they live somewhere and then they commute. That commuting is a problem to some extent. So to answer your question we are in the transfer period and I don't know how they haven't shared it with you, because everything they share with Channel 7. Jules probably have the list already. But a number of officers are being transferred from San Ignacio because of the same reason. The transfers take effect July 1st."
And apart from fresh police, the Commissioner also hopes to get a new police station in Santa Elena.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Another issue that we have is that you would know that the San Ignacio, Santa Elena area has expanded tremendously, the one Central Station is not cutting it. We are in the process of contracting the Santa Elena station through CABEI, we have through Mr Balona, gotten the land on which the station is going to be constructed, the finance or the funds from CABEI has been approved so it's just a matter of breaking ground and we should start the construction of that station but I will see if there is any way, maybe perhaps what we can do is to rent some house in Santa Elena and put a halfway police station. When I say halfway, I mean one that will not have all the amenities but at least half the amenities that the police would normally offer and we can use that as a temporary station until the new one is constructed. We have to be sensitive to the fact that the people of Santa Elena need a police station. For them to go all the way to San Ignacio to make complaints is ridiculous."
Santa Elena residents have complained that since the Hawkesworth Bridge was closed for repairs - crime in their side of the twin towns has escalated because the police response time has increased.
