Barnstable Town Manager Thomas Lynch, Town Councilor Sara Cushing, Town Council President Jessica Rapp-Grassetti, Barnstable Police Chief Paul MacDonald, and Police Lt. Michael Clark at the ribbon cutting on Wednesday.
OSTERVILLE – Barnstable town officials turned out for the ribbon-cutting for the new West Villages Substation.
Barnstable Police Chief Paul MacDonald said the station will add to the efficiency of the workings of the department.
“This is a first for us. We’ve had the Hyannis station for several years and now we’re expanding to the western part of town. We want to bring that same personalized service that we brought to downtown Hyannis that has so affected the quality of life and the crime rate in Hyannis. Hopefully this will have the same effect on the villages of Cotuit, Marstons Mills and Osterville,” he said.
The station is located at 2948 Falmouth Road (Route 28), unit 2 in Osterville in a plaza that contains a 7-Eleven, Osterville Fish Too, and a liquor store.
The chief said the location was key. “It’s a centralized location on Route 28 at Osterville-West Barnstable Road. This is probably one of the most centralized spots in the entire town,” he said. “It’s an extremely busy plaza. We love the visibility. We know being on an intersection works will with the Hyannis station so we’re trying to duplicate the same efforts here.”
This is the second substation for the department. The first opened in 2011 on Main Street in Hyannis with the goal of giving the police department more visibility in an area of town that has a good deal of police response.
“Once the officer is assigned to his patrol in the western villages, they’ll be out here permanently. They will not be going back to do any reporting, to answer any phone calls. Any clerical work and administrative work that they have to do, they’ll be required to do it out here,” he said.
The police headquarters will still serve as the booking site though, he said.
