Plans for a long-term shift of the Eastern Division Police Headquarters have been confirmed by top Ministry of Home Affairs official Elton Bennett, who pushed back on swirling speculation that public property in the Lake-I district would be sold to finance overlapping public safety infrastructure projects.
In comments made during an on-record interview on April 29, 2026, Bennett, the Ministry’s chief executive officer, clarified that the government is not walking away from the Raccoon Street site permanently, but has instead laid out a long-range strategy to move the headquarters to a purpose-built facility that can accommodate the police department’s steady expansion. “I wouldn’t use the word abandon, I would prefer to relocate,” Bennett told reporters, noting that short-term repair work is already underway to shore up the aging current headquarters while the long-term relocation plan moves forward.
Speculation has circulated in local public discourse that the government plans to offload the Caye Caulker police-owned parcel of land to generate enough capital to build a new 911 emergency response center on Lake-I Boulevard, with eventual plans to develop the site into a full-service permanent police station. When pressed to address these rumors, Bennett rejected claims that any Lake-I public property is marked for sale, stating flatly that he is unaware of any active plans to dispose of government-owned land in the district. He also declined to add further comment on the previously addressed Caye Caulker land situation when reporters pushed for clarification.
Both the upgrade of the 911 emergency system and the renovation or relocation of the Raccoon Street police headquarters remain high-priority urgent needs for the local public safety sector, Bennett confirmed. With two critical infrastructure projects competing for limited government resources, the Ministry of Home Affairs continues to actively search for viable funding sources to deliver both projects without sacrificing the quality or timeline of either.
The original reporting is a published transcript of an evening television broadcast, transcribed for online publication with standardized spelling adjustments for Kriol-language remarks used by speakers in the original segment.