Barbuda’s growing resident population is giving rise to security concerns by the
nation’s top law enforcement officer.
Police Commissioner Atlee Rodney addressed the issue while speaking on the
Barbuda Channel on cable television noting that there is a need for more trained
fire fighters and police as the number of people moving to the island increases due
to the ongoing developmental projects.
Rodney noted that the construction of the PLH project as well as the airport has
increased the number of persons living over in the sister isle and with that increase,
there needs to be adequate officers to enforce safety.
“A police and fire station will also need to be attached specifically to the airport,”
he stated.
Rodney mentioned that dialogue is ongoing to address both the human resource as
well as the material needs of the facilities.
We do not have enough, if we are going to man a second airport with additional
traffic. We would need more fire officers in particular. So, we must have fire
officers at the airport and there must be a certain number to meet the standard
requirement.
At the same time, we will still need fire officers within the community to provide
that fire and rescue service. Obviously, it creates the challenge of providing
additional persons and if we continue to struggle with facilities that becomes a
concern for us.
We are doing the dialogue now, in terms of improving the facilities because
additional fire officers for the airport need housing and what we have now cannot
adequately accommodate a new group with the existing group. So, facilities are an
issue for us and we are working towards that.
Same thing with the police, if they are going to have that level of assets on the
ground, we have to provide more security, Rodney explained.
In July 2018, the Development Control Authority (DCA) granted a development
permit for the airport’s construction.
Later that year, the Cabinet announced that it was expanding the runway by more
than 1,000 feet to accommodate commercial flights to the sister island.
