Location of new Sandwich Public Safety facility prior to construction
SANDWICH – A project that the Town of Sandwich has been waiting almost 30-years for is entering the final stages of construction.
The Sandwich Public Safety Complex, meant to house the administrative offices of both the fire and police departments, is expected to be completed sometime in early 2019.
Construction is being managed by the Boston Building & Bridge Corporation.
“The work has been going great. We’ve been meeting weekly with the builder and the architect and project manager and going over all of the different details of developing a building,” Sandwich Police Chief Peter Wack said.
“We’re anticipating sometime in the spring of 2019. It’s a fluctuating situation because they’re obviously relying on contractors and different work aspects so we’re meeting with them every Friday, where we sit down at a table with all the different partners in this project and talk about all the progress.”
The new police station will house all emergency communications equipment and staff, prisoner detention cells, evidence processing rooms, interview rooms, and the town’s emergency disaster management services. The building will also be installed with the latest communications, camera, and IT technology.
Chief Wack says one of the most important aspects of the new police department in comparison to the current one is the prisoner processing area.
“The current building has very little security or safety for the public or our employees. The new facility, as people will see, there’s a huge cement block area and that is a real state of the art facility,” said Wack.
“There’s a number of other components as well. When folks come in to either make a complaint or ask to speak to an officer, we really don’t have an area to talk to them, and now we have dedicated areas for that.”
Sallyports are also planned to be installed on the outside walls of the building where prisoners are dropped off, a feature the current police station at 117 Route 6A does not have, forcing officers to walk prisoners through the main lobby in front of the public.
The complex is also expected to feature a new skate park and recreation area, while plans for a senior center to be built in the future are also rumored.
A series of storms and cold weather this year has pushed back the targeted date of completion for the 27-acre public safety campus, with crews working Saturday shifts to get back on track.
By Tim Dunn, CapeCod.com News Center
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