$20 000 to burglar-proof church

The Salvation Army will now be faced with a $20 000 bill to replace several electronic items taken when its Speightstown branch was burglarised in mid-October.

Pastor of the St Peter church, Captain Dwayne Broome, said the sum quoted was also for the installation of several security features.

Speaking recently at Jubilee Gardens in The City, where the army launched its 2017 Christmas Kettle Appeal, Broome said several unsuccessful attempts had been made to enter the church but on that occasion the burglars made off with the main speakers, valued at nearly $4 000, their stands, projectors, the projector screen and a mixer. 

He put the value of the stolen items at about $8 000.

Broome said the church had so far placed additional locks and bolts on the doors but also intended to switch to metal doors and install grills at the windows.

“We will need help in restructuring the building for better security. It will cost about $20 000 to secure the building properly,” Broome said.

In spite of the incident, Broome said he hoped the church could help the perpetrators in some way.

“People today are desperate. They are in need and we cannot lose [sight] of who we are and what we do because of what happened and how it affected us,” he said.

“Our thought toward it is that the person or persons will be honest enough to confess. We are not an organisation that I think would want to put them in prison but give them a chance to reconcile and be rehabilitated,” Broome said, adding that the church would like to know the burglar’s needs to decide how to help.

He said that others would respond to negatives like tragedy and theft with negativity, but the church should not. 

“I believe that with positive action we can do better with those who are thinking about stealing,” he said. (LK)