Police Department renovations completed

Warwick - Warwick Town Supervisor, Michael Sweeton, and Town Police Chief, Thomas McGovern, showed off the new police station this week. The recently completed construction on the lower level of the Town Hall brings to a conclusion over twelve months of work in the second phase of renovations that began shortly after the senior citizens left their meeting area in favor of their new free-standing senior center behind the Town Hall. “This $100,000 project will bring our police department into the 21st century insofar as dispatching, communications, booking, interrogation and general amenities of a modern police force,” said the Supervisor. “We have one of the best trained police forces in the county,” said the Supervisor. “These renovations bring us up to date technologically. It gives our Town a state-of-the-art communications facility, enabling our dispatchers to perform their jobs even more efficiently.” “It provides our dispatchers with a secure location behind bullet-proof glass from which they can operate without fear of being exposed to an irate suspect or anyone else intent on disrupting police operations,” said Chief McGovern. “Maintaining this level of security for our personnel is critical in a post-9/11 atmosphere.” “A new interview room is available for use by the department when interviewing members of the public. These areas are now much more comfortable and located away from areas where prisoners might be being held. This provides a level of physical and emotional safety for the public. Before completing of this new facility we always felt that the public, who we rely on so much to enable us to do our jobs, could be intimidated by close of sometimes violent or verbally abusive prisoners or suspects,” McGovern said. The final phase of the project, which is slated to begin at the end of this year, will feature the expansion of the men’s locker and dressing areas as well as a new locker room and bathroom facilities for female officers, secure interrogation rooms for detectives and officers, a new, secure evidence locker, new and additional offices for detectives and senior officers and keyless entry locks for greater security within the department. “The bottom line is that we now have the physical surroundings in which our fine police department can perform their duties in keeping with the demands of a 21st century department,” said Supervisor Sweeton. Police Department renovations include: • New communications console. • Secure location for dispatchers. • Sufficient space in which to interview members of the public who are filing a complaint or on site to assist in an investigation. • A new area for patrol officers to file reports and perform computer entry. • An exercise room (equipment furnished by the officers themselves). • A secured computer room. • A new lobby area for the public. • A new classroom/training area for use by the department. • A kitchen area for officers break periods.