AS works progress on the New Cummings Lodge Housing Development on the East Coast Demerara, the government has shown its commitment to this significant investment with the recent commissioning of the new $7M Police Outpost located within the community.

The multimillion-dollar facility which the Ministry of Housing and Water constructed was handed over to the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday by subject Minister Collin Croal.

Commissioner of Police (ag) Clifton Hicken noted that the investment is timely, as it places police presence at the centre of a community that is currently transforming.

According to the ‘Top Cop’, this type of investment is pivotal to providing an environment of safety and protection, as the country continues to undergo a massive expansion.

“This building was structurally and strategically placed at the location where development is going on within the neighbourhood, and, by extension, the country. And so, as development is taking place in the country, we are placing our policemen and women to mitigate against crime and violence,” Hicken said.

He explained that the police station would rely on human resource assistance from the Sophia Police Station, and the facility will also be equipped with and assigned a Police vehicle.

Hicken stated that the outpost and its ranks would be working in unison with both the residents and the policing groups within the community to promote a safer and more secure society.

Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn echoed similar sentiments, stating that the strategic positioning of the outpost allows for the breaking down of barriers to access, and timely responses to dealing with matters of safety and security within the community.

“This gift from the Ministry of Housing and Water is significant in relation to this because it gives us a footprint in the area; a policing footprint. And that footprint has to be realised properly by those who will occupy the police station. Good policing will lay the foundation for good development,” Minister Benn stated.

Besides charging the ranks of the station to be committed to the Force’s motto of serving and protecting the people of Guyana, he also advised them to ensure that the community’s residents feel safe in the knowledge that their issues will be addressed whenever they have cause to make a report.

“The human resources themselves in the Guyana Police Force must be willing; be wanting, and be able and open to the issues of doing a better professional job,” the Home Affairs Minister stressed, adding:
“This is the most important thing beyond having a facility; a new police station. That the human aspect; the personalities who will occupy buildings like this; that they realise the need for training, and, more particularly, to do the training that they would have received in respect of policing more efficacious; more effective; more wanting to help people.”

Housing Minister Collin Croal noted that the investment is timely and necessary as the community undergoes this massive transformation.
“We as a ministry and as a government,” he said, “continue to build new communities. At the same time, it is equally important that we have the necessary services, facilities, and amenities within those neighbourhoods.”