Police: Queen St. renovations part of PR campaign

The Belize Police Department has embarked on a major overhaul of one of its most high profile locations: the Queen Street Police Station. But as News Five’s Jacqueline Woods discovered, officials are hoping the physical alterations will also improve the public’s perception of the police.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
According to authorities, construction work at the Belize City Patrol Branch of the Queen Street Police Station is just one way to promote a positive image to the public.

A.C.P. Crispin Jeffries, Head, Eastern Division
?We think that the working environment had to be improved. We are looking at empowerment of police officers, people need to be a lot more professional and the work environment will enhance that.?

?We want to make the place more user-friendly, drop in, so you can feel comfortable to come in. And as you can see, a few people are sitting around. We?ve identified and we will be making more comfortable seating arrangements, but that is on order and it should be coming in.?

The work should be completed by February fifteenth, but today Assistant Commissioner Crispin Jeffries maintains that what has been accomplished is a marked improvement.

A.C.P. Crispin Jeffries
?We?ve lifted the tiles on the floor, we have replaced it. We have renovated and removed most of the aluminium louver windows to make them more plate glass windows, to make the place more visible from inside and outside so we can see more transparency. We?ve painted the walls, we?ve dropped the ceiling.?

A section of the building has been air conditioned and several subdivisions have been added to replace closed office quarters.

To the rear of the building, holding cells are being ventilated and outfitted with proper bathroom and shower fixtures. The bars will also be reinforced to securely hold as many as sixty people.

As the main holding area for detainees in Belize City, Assistant Commissioner Jeffries maintains every effort is being made to make sure the prisoners have little contact as possible with the public.

A.C.P. Crispin Jeffries
?A lot of what happened in the past inside this area of the building will now happen in the back. There is an area that we book people into the station, where you are usually allowed to hand over your properties; that is handled at the back now. And because we are moving to occupy space that was available at the back, we are moving some of that rigorous encounter with the violent prisoners to happen outside of the eyes of the public. So the members of the public who want to make a complaint or who wants to be interviewed or who wants to sit and wait for a friend, that can happen.?

There is also an effort underway to preserve part of the building?s sixty year old history.

A.C.P. Crispin Jeffries
?These are four concrete walls that have been here for the last sixty years. In fact, there is one cell there that is in its original form.?

?We are moving away from the process where we had to bring an arrested or detained person into this area at the front and we?ll do that just in an open area between what is the now station area, what we call George Room area, and the lockup area. There is an area in between that is the administrative area and we?ll be using that area for interviews to be conducted by attorneys with a high level of security, but a level of privacy.?

Jeffries says the police will continue to improve on the services it provides to the public as it fosters a better working relationship with the community. Jacqueline Woods for News Five.

While the work on the front part of the building is being done by private contractors, inmates of Hattieville prison, supervised by Assistant Commissioner Jeffries, are doing the brunt of the labour in the rear of the police station.