SANDWICH – It’s move-in day for the Sandwich Police Department as staff officially takes command of the newly built, 27-acre public safety campus on Monday.
The department was scheduled to make the switch from the current station, located at 117 Route 6A, to the new complex at 255 Cotuit Road at 8:00 a.m.
Sandwich Police Chief Peter Wack said the department’s telephone numbers, emails, website and 911 contacts will remain the same.
“It’s been a long time and we’re finally opening our doors to the public, and that is going to be this coming Monday, June 17th, at 8:00 a.m.,” said Wack.
“So, I wanted to get the message out to the community that our old station will be closing at that time and we’ll be having our public lobby open, we’ll be taking calls and responding from the new location at 255 Cotuit Road in Sandwich.”
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 the new facility will provide a lot more safety for officers and the public.
“It provides us with is a lot more safety for our officers when they’re processing prisoners, it provides the public with a lobby which will have access to the fire and police administrations through direct dial phones in the lobbies, and it gives our communications folks a professional setup where they’re able to not only dispatch fire and police, but also monitor cameras around town and IT systems we have throughout the building,” Wack said.
“It also provides our emergency management team a better facility in the event of a storm or critical incident. They not only have their own office space but, our new multipurpose training room can be converted to an emergency operations center very easily and contains a great deal of technology.”
Public access to the new station will be from Cotuit Road only, with the Quaker Meeting House Road entrance reserved for construction vehicles and department employees.
A series of storms and cold weather last fall had pushed back the targeted date of completion, with crews working Saturday shifts to get back on schedule.
The company was be able to continue to work through the cold New England winter as the focus of the project shifted to the living and working quarters inside the new police and fire stations.
Sandwich Town Manager Bud Dunham said the police and fire stations, originally built in the mid-50’s and mid-70’s, have been in “tough shape” for a long time.
“We began this process back in 2010 and the project changed a lot over the course of the years, but what we have today is two fire substations with a fire headquarters and now a stand-alone police station at the 255 Cotuit Road location,” added Wack.
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.
By TIM DUNN, CapeCod.com News Center
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