The Government of Dominica has manifested its commitment towards advancing Dominica to the next level, through measures taken to improve infrastructure, housing, security and human affairs.
At the Official Opening of the new Grand Bay Police Station and the handing over of the ‘Petro Casa’ houses which took place on Tuesday April 9, Ministers present expressed that these establishments serve as proof of the government’s continued efforts to develop the country.
Minister for National Security, Hon. Charles Savarin, informed the public of the initiatives which the government has been taking to provide resources for effective operations of the police force.
“We’ve sought to ensure that every police station and every police unit is equipped with a police vehicle to ensure that we are no longer told by the police when we call on them for assistance that and I quote “we have no transport.”
Hon. Savarin said that the People’s Republic of China has agreed to supply some ninety motorcycles for the use of the police force. The United States has also committed to the development of a coast guard base in the city of Portsmouth.
He further listed some other initiatives taken to improve the service of the force.
“Other initiatives include the exposing of our police officers to overseas training opportunities and greater targeting and increased focus on specific skills presently lacking in this service. With the help of our development partners we have accessed numerous new initiatives which will result in improved service delivery. Some of these initiatives are increased training, intelligence gathering and analysis and drug interdiction, the introduction of cyber crime investigation, the commissioning of a modern automated finger print identification system and the training of officers to take and interpret finger print data.”
The introduction of legislation for the use of video recording systems to interview suspects involved in serious crimes and the training of police officers to conduct such interviews was also part of that list.
Hon. Justina Charles, Parliamentary Representative for the community of Grand Bay in her remarks at the event commented that the construction of the new police station has led to improvements in road conditions that created a number of new job opportunities, particularly for the young people of her constituency.