By Paul Leighton
Staff writer
May 09, 2008 05:44 am BEVERLY — If you're looking for the police station, check the parking lot. To make way for renovations of their headquarters, police have set up temporary digs inside a trailer in the parking lot behind City Hall next door. The main entrance to the police station will be closed starting today, so visitors will need to walk around to the parking lot. The renovations are expected to take about one month. Officer John McCarthy, the department spokesman, said there will be no interruption of police services during that time. Telephone services, whether emergency or business calls, will not be affected, he said. The renovations will cost $230,000. Half will be paid by the city, half by a state grant. The Cabot Street station was built in 1935 as an annex to City Hall and is small and in poor condition. The roof leaks and the showers don't work, among other problems. The city's long-term plan is to build a new police station next to the Cummings Center, but that could still be a long way off. These will be the first major renovations to the station since it was built. The renovations will focus on the dispatch center and locker rooms. The redesigned dispatch center 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 men's 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. Central air conditioning, energy-efficient windows and security cameras will also be installed.
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