It was a big relief for Sergeant Melvin B. Garr last 22 November, when UNMIL officially handed over a newly constructed building to house the local LNP station in Jarwodee, a small town in the statutory district of Gbarzon, Grand Gedeh County.

“With our new office and the expected deployment of more police, I can see significant improvements in our efforts to contain crime here,” Melvin told UNMIL Today at the hand-over ceremony.

For more than a year he singlehandedly manned the remote police post some 65 km northwest of the County capital Zwedru, with a little support from members of the local Community Policing Forum, a group of troubleshooting volunteers established to help with community security.

“My colleagues from Toe Town came over occasionally to train members of the Forum but, in the absence of a regular police post, I’ve for the most part been on my own all this while,” the sergeant reminisced.

Melvin also depended on community elders for office space in Jarwodee, bothering them now and then for temporal cells in which to hold offenders until he could arrange their transfer to the main LNP constabulary in distant Zwedru.
Constructed under UNMIL’s Quick Impact Projects (QIP), the USD 25,000 LNP depot in Jarwodee comprises four offices, two detention cells and a well fitted with a hand pump.

Notwithstanding his appreciation for the modern office Melvin, who is also Deputy Police Commander for Gbarzon, remained concerned about other operational challenges.

“It’s nine hours on foot from here to the main road in Zleh Town, and we do not have motorbikes,” he bemoaned. “We really would like for the Quick Impact scheme to consider providing us some logistic support here.”

He also lamented the absence of electricity and accommodation for LNP officers expected to deploy in Jarwodee in the coming weeks.

Yet another drawback in the District’s judiciary infrastructure was flagged at the hand-over ceremony by the Superintendent for Gbarzon District, Henry C. Zonweay.
“We need a Magistrate’s Court here to supplement the new police post,” Zonweay pleaded, citing the long trek from Jarwodee to the nearest Magistrate’s Court in Zleh Town, where a second and identical LNP depot was also handed over to the local authorities later that same day.

Thomas Mtaisi, Head of the UN Field Office in Sector B3 acknowledged these challenges but cautioned that together with the Government of Liberia, the UN can only scale the hurdles one at a time.