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Health & Fitness

Vote YES for Article 14 at Town Meeting May 5

Sudbury Police Deserve Equal Treatment – It’s Time!

 

I urge all registered voters to attend Town Meeting on May 5 to support Article 14 to fund the proposed new Police Headquarters facility. It’s overdue to bring our police protectors up to par with the other Sudbury Public Safety units.

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A new Fire Department Headquarters was built on Hudson Road in 1992 and fixed serious operational deficiencies for that unit.

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Similarly, the Public Works Department facilities were expanded with funds approved in April, 2001 recognizing the critical public safety responsibilities Public Works personnel provide us. 

 

Today, the Sudbury Police Department faces much the same difficult situation that these vital public safety agencies struggled with not so long ago. The facility that serves as police headquarters was built in 1960. At only 6,400 sq.ft., it is overcrowded and unsafe.

 

Surprisingly, 10,000 people visit Sudbury Police Headquarters each year. Visitors first encounter a tiny 75 sq. ft. cinder-block lobby adjacent to a dispatch room housing 2  dispatchers cramped in a space originally designed for one.

 

Police business is conducted in a narrow conference room, precariously close to the 3 holding cells at the station, representing a serious public safety concern.

 

Record storage is beyond capacity, and the Evidence Room – a locked closet that holds items for corroboration at future Court proceedings – is at capacity. A former Juvenile Office now functions as a computer room. The 3 cells at the station (1 female, 2 male) do not meet specifications as required by Massachusetts General Law. And last, but certainly not least, working conditions for police personnel are woefully inadequate.

 

The proposed 14,540 sq. ft. facility to be housed on Hudson Road next to the Fire Headquarters would remedy all of the current deficiencies. Only then will all public safety facilities (Police, Fire and Public Works) receive equal treatment by the Town of Sudbury.

 

Sudbury voters have already approved expenditures for this overdue facility. But, I remind you, this is a 2-stage process. Voters must now complete the action at Town Meeting on May 5 by also voting yes to fund the new Sudbury Police Headquarters.

 

Vote Yes on Article 14 – It’s time! 

 

Stan Kaplan

98 Victoria Road






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