Napier and Hastings will each get a new police station in a proposed building project for the Eastern district.
Eastern District Commander Superintendent Sandra Venables said it was hoped that work would begin early next year on new stations on the current sites. The old stations will be demolished when the new ones are built.
Design plans are currently being developed for both stations. A business case with concept plans has been submitted for final approval.
Ms Venables said the new stations would be a major project for Police.
“I’m very pleased to be able to announce this project. The current stations date back to the 1960s and do not suit the needs of a modern police service. Our staff especially will be very pleased to be able to work in modern facilities that will be purpose-built for our needs,” Ms Venables said.
The Napier station will be single level and will house community police, youth staff, CIB and public safety teams. The Hastings station will be three levels and will incorporate Eastern District Headquarters.
Ms Venables said Eastern District Headquarters staff would vacate Dalton House in Napier by September as the lease on that building has expired. The 89 staff from there will move into the Napier and Hastings stations until the new stations are completed. Some work groups from the main stations will be moved out to community stations in Havelock North, Taradale and Clive while the building project is underway.
“There will be some significant staff movements around the area to accommodate the new project and we are trying very hard to minimise the impact on staff and the public. We are looking forward to the end result which will provide much better work environments for everyone.”
A preliminary stage of the project is currently underway with the renovation of the Hastings cell block.
All arrests in the Hawke’s Bay area will be centralised with one custodial facility based in Hastings. This will increase prisoner capacity and safety, provide a safer working environment for staff and will enable staff to be more effectively deployed to meet priority demands.
“Instead of having two custodial facilities operating within 20km of each other that require two lots of staffing, it makes better sense to have one facility so that we can deploy more staff out on the streets,” Ms Venables said.
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