 The government of St. Lucia has announced the construction of a new Grossly police station. The announcement came on Tuesday, 15 December, as a team of government officials conducted a walkthrough of the current structure. The team included Minister for the Public Service, Home Affairs, Labour and Gender Affairs Hon. Dr. Virginia Albert-Poyard. Minister for Youth Development and Sports and Parliamentary Representative for Grossly, Hon. Kensin Kazeme and Permanent Secretaries in the Department of Home Affairs and a Public Service. The visit provided the officials an opportunity to assess the conditions under which the officers are operating. As the minister responsible for the administration of the police, I did promise that we are going to improve the lot of police so that they have better working conditions in order for them to operate very efficiently and effectively in the society. To combat a lot of the social ills we have and to bring greater peace and tranquility in our society. At this point, I think sooner rather than later we should see the construction starting because the Prime Minister has given directives to start the work. The building housing the Grossly police station will be demolished and the site will be used to construct a new structure. As a result, the Grossly police station will be temporarily relocated. Minister for Youth Development and Sports and Parliamentary Representative for Grossly, Hon. Kensin Kazeme indicated that various options are being taken into consideration for the temporary relocation. We had a side visitor, Stephanie's Hotel, which would be one of the areas under consideration for dormitories to ensure that they are comfortable. We know that we are dealing with low morale within the ranks of our police. Exhausted police dealing with COVID-19 and of course the crime situation and so we are putting our best foot forward to ensure that they are comfortable. The proposed site for the Northern Division is the current police station and we do believe that we have something that the police would be more than comfortable with once we commence construction and complete construction. They can go back to work and work in the best interests of keeping our people safe. Hon. Kazeme indicated that the construction of the new station is set to commence early January. There are a number of dynamics that we have to deal with including where do we store exhibits during the construction, where do we ensure that the police and during the working hours and off working hours can comfortably move around and so once all of those things are sorted out we can commence construction very early January. Officer in charge of the grossly police station Sean Alexander highlighted the challenges being experienced by the officers including insufficient space. Despite the challenges he indicated that the officers remain committed to fulfilling their duties. Despite the limitations space at the station and COVID, the officers are in high spirit and because of that person still work diligently and I can see that this Sunday because of the way they work during that time COVID and beyond we decide to honor some of them on Sunday. So this Sunday we'll have an award ceremony where we'll present some of them with some awards for their hard work during the COVID period. Security and continuation of service remain priorities by the government of Cintucia during the construction process from the government information service. Lil' Maddy Mock reporting.