Cops run as portion of police station collapses

GASPARILLO police went scampering for their own safety on Friday night after a part of the station collapsed to the ground.

Police officers in the district were not surprised however, since they have been complaining that the wooden structure is severely dilapidated and barely fit for occupation. Around 9 pm the wooden post holding up the galvanised garage area, which had visibly rotted, crashed without warning. Luckily no one was in the area at the time and there were no injuries. The officers said they do not park their vehicles in the garage because they knew it was not safe. Within recent years, policemen in the district have repeatedly voiced their concerns over their safety in the public building, which is plagued by stray animals, rodents and insects, that often slip through the holes in the shaky wooden flooring. 

Too much ventilation is also problematic, as the majority of the louvre panes are either missing or broken. Thus, the lawmen not only barely have privacy in the dormitory and toilet facilities, but are also open to the elements of the weather on a daily basis. Many of them are bracing themselves for the approaching rainy season of harsh rainfall. Senior Superintendent of the South District Farook Ghany could not be reached yesterday to comment on the issue. However, Sunday Newsday was told that only hours before the collapse, Gasparillo police were given the keys for temporary housing in an annex at the neighbouring Gasparillo Government Primary School. In the meantime, however, the Gasparillo policemen believe that they are in the “forgotten district” as so many other police stations were re-built recently, but theirs was not.