THE Guyana Police Force will soon be seeking the help of the various courts to reconstruct some of the records that were destroyed in Saturday’s devastating fire at the Brickdam Police Station, Commander of Police Division 4 ‘A’, Assistant Commissioner Simon Mc Bean, said on Monday.

Despite the efforts of ranks, years of police records and several vehicles worth millions of dollars were either burnt in the blaze or were badly damaged. Based on the initial assessment, over 80 per cent of the buildings in the compound were burnt.

The police station was the headquarters for Police Division 4 ‘A’ and also housed Mc Bean’s office.
Mc Bean told the Guyana Chronicle that the force plans to enlist the help of the courts to reconstruct some of the destroyed files. He noted that the ranks have been working assiduously to determine what files were destroyed in the fire.

“What we have to do and what we’re doing at the moment is we’re making an assessment of them; some can be recreated…we’ll seek advice on the way forward because some of them, the court will have documents to recreate and some of them we should be able to recreate ourselves so we will have to make an assessment as to where we are where that is concerned,” he said.

The fire was reportedly set by an armed robbery suspect around 11:06 hrs. The Property Room, Inquiries Office, Traffic Department and Officers’ Mess Hall were among the sections ravaged.

To continue providing services to the people of Georgetown, temporary police offices have been established at the nearby St. Stanislaus College. At the new location, reports and other police-related matters will be dealt with. This development resulted from collaboration between the Ministries of Home Affairs and Education.

On Sunday, President Ali also used the opportunity to laud the efforts of ranks attached to the police station. He praised them for their commitment to efficiently set up temporary offices mere hours after the devastating fire, to continue serving the people of Guyana.

The Brickdam Police Station housed 398 ranks belonging to the Commander’s Office, Traffic, Impact Base, and CID.

The President further disclosed that government was working to acquire assets that would allow for “comfort” while ranks are operating out of the temporary police station. Containerised offices and reconfiguration of containers are currently being considered by the Ministry of Home Affairs as means of temporary operations for the Brickdam Police Station.

Assistant Commissioner McBean has assured that while the station will be operating out of a temporary location, none of the services it usually offers has been disrupted.

“So far we have been able to respond to the needs of citizens from the centre. Persons coming to make reports, they have been able to make their reports and they were responded to; traffic accidents are reported and responded to, and our detectives are working. All our patrols are out so we have been able to respond to the public, providing services as we normally do,” he said.