Opposition Senate leader Kim Swan has called on Government to update the public on when St. George's Police station will be closed for refurbishment.

The United Bermuda Party Senator said he had been contacted by a number of residents who wanted to know how the Eastern Police Division will operate after St. George's station is revamped and an additional station is opened at nearby Southside.

"No one, at this juncture, seems to know what the detailed plans are for St. George's Police station," said Sen. Swan.

"I think the town of St. George's deserves to know what is going to happen to their Police station, when it will close, how long for, and what compliment of officers the town will have?

"It has been months since Government updated residents and I think that by now somebody should have a timetable. They should be sharing that with the public, but in particular the people of St. George's."

Premier Jennifer Smith faced criticism earlier this year after she did an apparent U-turn over widely publicised plans to close the Old Town's Police station when the new one at Southside opened.

Cabinet Ministers and the Police had repeatedly faced a barrage of complaints over the plans to close the station as residents said growing crime in the town warranted a constant Police presence.

However, they said the dilapidated station would be closing, and all operations in the East End would be run out of Southside.

But, at the annual Peppercorn Ceremony in April, the Premier, while making a speech, dropped into her address that the Police station was not to close, after all.

She said, despite months of publicised outrage, the station had never been set to close and that it had merely been rumours fuelled by the media, which Government had simply never corrected.

But Mr. Swan said it was time to bring the public up to date again.

"All we know is that there was an undertaking given there was never any plans for the Police station to move," added Sen. Swan.

"That undertaking totally contradicted what two Cabinet Ministers had said and the Police Commissioner.

"We think Government should now be making a statement as to what is going on down there. We have all waited long enough... but here we are, we are still waiting."

The fight to keep the Police station in St. George's was, at first, largely led by chairman of the Police Eastern Division Consultative Committee Group W. A. (Toppy) Cowen.

However, the group disbanded about five months ago amid claims that the executive had grown too large to manage, and a number of other groups in the town had created a duplication.

Mr. Cowen said the group had lost its focus, and was not getting the support it needed.

The Royal Gazette requested an update on the Police station yesterday from Government, but no comments were forthcoming.