By NALINEE SEELAL Tuesday, July 4 2006

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A SPANKING new building has been sourced by Government to temporarily house police officers who walked out of the decrepit, run-down St Joseph police station last year to protest unsafe conditions in which they were forced to work.

A SPANKING new building has been sourced by Government to temporarily house police officers who walked out of the decrepit, run-down St Joseph police station last year to protest unsafe conditions in which they were forced to work.Since the officers abandoned the station, the St Joseph community and its surrounding areas have been without a physical police force in the area after the officers were relocated to other police stations within Northern Division.In place of a police force to service the St Joseph area, a mobile police unit was placed at the front of the old St Joseph station with two officers stationed to only take reports from the general public.

However, St Joseph residents and businessmen can rest a bit easy with news that a new building located at the corner of Evans and Market Street will be used by police to ensure an actual physical police presence in that community.The building is a temporary site, sources said, with plans to demolish the old St Joseph police station and construct a new one to permanently house officers.When Newsday visited the new station yesterday workmen along with soldiers were busy putting the finishing touches.

The site for the station was located since last year, but actual construction of the temporary station started two months ago and was completed over the weekend.Workmen will spend the rest of this week putting up a sign at the front of the station to ensure members of the general public know this is the police station. At the old St Joseph Police

Station, the mobile unit placed outside the station remained operational. Officers at the mobile unit said they were looking forward to moving into the temporary station.Inside the old St Joseph Police Station, stray dogs were seen running in and out of the charge room while the floor was covered with bat droppings. Officers walked out of the station last year when an officer’s foot went through the rotted, wooden flooring in the charge room.

Officers had complained about the inhumane working conditions and later accused the executive of the police service of turning a blind eye to their plight. When officers staged the walkout, senior officers intervened and relocated the officers at the Tunapuna Police Station.