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Police station hours an issue for St George's security - Mayor

St George's Mayor Kenny Bascome is concerned about the area's security

St George’s Mayor Kenneth Bascome blamed short hours at the old police station for leaving the town vulnerable.Mr Bascome’s comments followed a break-in yesterday at Vera P Card jewellers on Water Street, close to the St George’s Station.According to store owner Jan Card, the front door was smashed in around 5am. A cabinet was broken and gold jewellery of undisclosed value taken.Mr Bascome said: “This only reiterates the fact that we need to have a fully functioning police station in St George’s. They constantly talk about a seven minutes’ response time, but this wouldn’t have happened if we had a round the clock station here. Mr Card has been broken into several times, and he never used to have break-ins of this kind. The same thing happens to Robertson’s Drug Store.”He said a group of about ten children had also vandalised a Christmas display and the Town Hall.“We had about 200 bulbs taken off a display on two palm trees in front of Town Hall. Someone also went into the hall and broke a side panel on one of the showcases. The idea was to leave the hall open so visitors could come in, to make the town user-friendly, but without security it won’t work.”Mr Bascome said the lack of a police station was a threat to investment in St George’s.“We have potentially two hotels and a marina being built in St George’s. If you were a financer, why should you put your money up with no full security?“I’m not looking to make a controversy over this, but we’re a living community and the St George’s station is only operating from 8am to about 10pm. It definitely doesn’t operate after midnight. I think we’re lucky that we haven’t had more incidents.”A police spokesman confirmed that the St George’s station opens at 8am but said its hours of operation vary according to staffing.