No outbreak at Central Police Station

The Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) has thrown cold water on talk of an alleged outbreak of COVID-19 cases at Central Police station.

Divisional Commander of the Bridgetown Division Senior Superintendent Peter Gibson, gave the assurance that there was not a single reported case at Central. In fact, he told Barbados Today that in his entire Division, which is made up of Black Rock, District A, Central, Hastings, Worthing and the Bridgetown Port, there were only two cases.

“I can tell you for sure, we don’t have COVID positive [cases]. We might have a couple people in quarantine as a precaution because you know we come into contact with persons that are positive. . . . We don’t have a single person at Central Station with COVID, not one. Up to this morning there were only two positives [in the division], and they should be cleared by now because those are from last week. They were from persons who had family members working in some areas where those persons are positive. Some of them contracted COVID from family members, but there is no outbreak,” Gibson said.

Elaborating on the force’s COVID policies, he said “The police force is like any other workplace and persons work and go home and they have spouses and family friends that are exposed and so sometimes we would have contact. Once we know, we take the necessary precautions. If we know the person had a contact we pull them out, have them tested and put them on quarantine. So once we know it, we have protocols that we follow.”

As it relates to personal protection equipment for officers on the frontline, Gibson stressed the availability of adequate stock.

He said: “We have an adequate amount of face masks, persons are issued with shields, we have gloves and an adequate supply of those. Our storeroom is adequately stocked with masks and gloves, alcohol and what’s not.” (KC)