By Tabora Bojang
Bakau police station remains closed, months after a mob vandalised the premises demanding to ‘deal’ with a murder suspect. The police naturally denied them access, and in anger they vandalised the station.
The police high command decided to cease operations at the station purportedly to repair it and moved Station Officer Foday Conta to Serekunda.
However, with no signs of it being renovated, many residents are worried that the police may be neglecting it to punish the town where common crime is surging.
But when contacted, police spokesperson Cadet ASP Binta Njie denied these suggestions and stated that the police are “not an institution that does a tit for tat.”
“We are here to protect and swore an oath to protect the lives and properties of the citizens and we are paid by their taxes. So, we can’t do a tit for tat with them. The operation [at the Bakau station] has ceased because the environment is not suitable. The SO is moved to Serekunda police station until they are able to restore the structure,” she said.
Asked what could be responsible for the delay in repair works, ASP Njie replied: “We were there to serve with our meager resources but the facility was vandalised by the very same people we risk our lives to serve. So we don’t have those resources to immediately fix something that wasn’t part of our plans or our budget. So it makes absolute sense to cease operations until the structure is fit enough for operations”.
However according to her, the police have since beefed up operations to cater for Bakau residents who can use satellite police stations like Kairaba for policing matters.
