Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa continues his tour of police stations countrywide. He's accompanied by the Commissioner of Police and his CEO - and they meet senior formation commanders along the way. Today he was in Belize City's precinct stations. We met him at the most problematic one - Raccoon Street where the roof has been leaking for 30 years. It's a problem that's gone from chronic to malignant - but Musa says he plans to fix it:
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs:
"The importance of this tour is to have a very intimate one on one with our police officers and not just with the high command of each formation, but to hear from each of our officers what their concerns are professionally as well as personally."
"And to see how best we can prioritize our resources moving forward for this budget year."
"Right now, as you could imagine, we're sitting inside one of the buildings that has been a huge concern for the department, not just this year, not just the last five years, but since the 1990s. This roof has been leaking since the 1990s, the year after it was built. And so it has been a recurring issue. We have done a lot of patchwork. I'm, I'm talking the previous administrations, not not our administration. And we are trying to see what is the best possible solution because this building currently houses approximately 300 staff members, some 200 police personnel, administrative staff, the 911 center and our accounts department."
"And so it's an essential part of our entire servicing, our police servicing of the community here on the south side of Belize City."
"But of course, the fundamental issue with this building is the roofing. And so we are getting quotations. We have submitted actually quotations, I think, about three weeks ago to the Ministry of Finance for there to be constructed, an actual roof on top of this building because there is not an it's an actual flat roof, cement roof, but to build an actual canopy roof, to prevent the type of leakage that we've been seeing that doesn't affect only the third floor, but it affects the second floor and even some of the offices on the first floor. Once that roofing issue has been repaired, then we will look at the internal repairs to the building, the office, office spaces."
Reporter:
"What do you have to say to those many police officers who work here in conditions of, wetness, mold after the wetness?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs:
"That is why this store is important for not just me, for the CEO, for the staff at the ministry to see firsthand the types of conditions that we're seeing that their officers are going through here at Raccoon Street Police Station."
"We do have the CABEI project that will construct a building, a second building on Chetumal Street, which a lot of the personnel will be relocated to, but that will take some time. A year or two. The 911 center, all our administration staff will be moved over there. And so a lot of office space will be freed up on this side. But at the same time, even though that's going to be a year or two, we have to find ways to repair now because this is an urgent situation that we've been seeing recurring every single year."
Reporter:
"Has the department been able to address the so-called rodent infestation here?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs:
"That that also is a compounding issue. It's, it's been addressed as the time arises. But a lot will be fixed whenever we fix the roof. Meaning the ceilings will be repaired, the offices will be repaired… So we have to start that where the problem is. And thereafter, we could see all those problems being resolved."
Reporter:
"Is there any immediate short term plan to address those issues so that the the mold and mildew in particular, and the falling water does not affect the staff."
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs:
"I am hoping that in a month or two, you can come back here and we'll have a roof on this building."
"So that is the short term plan, long term plan to house 300 people. We would need a brand new building. And we will just have to start working on that for future budgets or soliciting from our partners, international partners."
