A NEW purpose-built Murtoa Police Station is on the way after the first sod was officially turned on Tuesday.
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Blue Ribbon Foundation Horsham branch vice-president Dale Russell had the honour of turning the sod at the site. The $2.5-million project was funded in the state budget last year.
Wimmera Superintendent Paul Margetts said he hoped the new station would be up and running by the end of the year.
“Police will still operate at Murtoa on mobile patrol and they will use the Rupanyup station to store equipment,” he said.
“The administration work has be moved to other locations for the time being.”
Superintendent Margetts said the station would have the capacity to accommodate for visiting services, such as highway patrol units and investigators.
“It will be a brand new, purpose-built non-24 hour station with new equipment and storage rooms,” he said.
Superintendent Margetts said the station would provide a better service to the community, with space for people to come in and make statements.
“There will also be separate rooms for interviewing suspects,” he said.
“We are very excited to be building this station and we hope to soon move forward with service delivery.
“This will set us up for the next 50 to 60 years.”
Superintendent Margetts said there was a need for the new station in the community, with the old one falling into disrepair.
He said the new station would include a memorial to police officers who had died in the line of duty.
“It’s a good opportunity to delve in to the history books and honour a fallen police officer with this station,” he said.
“There are some Wimmera officers who died while on duty back in the early 1900s or 1920s.”
Upgrades of the Warracknabeal Police Station are also on the cards, with the station receiving money in the 2017-18 state budget.
The state government committed $2 billion for Victoria Police in the budget, which will include 10 station upgrades.
Superintendent Margetts said preparation for the upgrade had already started.
“At the moment we are looking at site selection and site acquisition,” he said.
“We’ve also had preliminary contract discussions around specialised services.”
Superintendent Margetts said while the project was still in the early phases, things were well and truly happening.
“We are up and running with this project and we are looking forward to ramping that up next year,” he said.
Superintendent Margetts said the existing Warracknabeal Police Station was an a refurbished bank building, and did not support the technology or workflow processes modern police required.
“If we have stations that don’t support the work flow, that has an impact on attracting and retaining police,” he said.
“Especially if the station isn’t up to date with what they’re accustomed to in other locations.”
The story New Murtoa Police Station one step closer first appeared on The Stawell Times-News.