BEVERLY — The dispatch center and locker rooms at the Beverly police station will be renovated in the next month, marking the first major improvements since the facility was built in 1935.
The center will be redesigned and will include a telecommunications room for telephone and radio equipment, an interview room so people have more privacy, a larger waiting area, an officer at the front window for better customer service, and better public access to records.
New lockers and working showers will be installed in the male locker room, and the women's locker room will be moved next to it, from the first floor to the second floor. There will also be outlets so officers can charge their radios and flashlights instead of taking them home.
In terms of building improvements, there will be central air conditioning and new energy-efficient windows, as well as security cameras both outside and inside.
The project will start a week from Saturday, when police plan to move the dispatch center into a trailer that will be parked in the back of the building while the room is gutted.
The $230,000 fix-up is thanks to a $114,565 state grant that the city agreed to match. The City Council on Tuesday approved taking money out of a surplus fund that can be used only for capital improvements. They called the project "long overdue."
"The present facility is a disgrace," Ward 5 Councilor Don Martin said. "The men and women deserve better."
The police station was built 73 years ago as an annex to City Hall on Cabot Street and was designed for 17 officers. There are now 69 officers, 13 reserve officers and 10 other employees who use the building, police Chief Mark Ray said.
"This in no way delays our need for a new police station," he said.
This city plans to build a combined police and fire station on land next to the Cummings Center, but with a $70 million high school project and a $2.6 million budget shortfall projected for the city's schools, the new station may not be built for years.
Ray said he hopes the renovation will improve working conditions in the meantime, and the department will continue applying for more grants.
"There no question they need a new facility," City Councilor Patricia Grimes said. "But unless something drastically changes, it looks like a new police station is down the road — very far down the road."
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