Monday 18 June 2018

New Police Station for Cessnock

BY TYLER FARDELL

Cessnock Police Station is set for a major upgrade, in a welcome announcement for staff, with the current facility severely outdated.

$13.5 million has been committed by the state government to build the new state of the art facility, which could accommodate more police officers in the future.

NSW Police Minister Troy Grant made the trip to Cessnock to unveil the funding, saying the Station will be built with modern technologies.

"It will be built, fit for purpose, not for today but for the future," he said, "it will have capacity for additional police, additional functions and importantly it will be built to modern standards to house the technology police need to do their job day in and day out."

Cessnock Chief Police officer, Dave Robinson said the upgrade will help the police continue their effective work.

"Cessnock became part of the Hunter Valley Police District on the 14th January this year," he explained.

"Since that time we've made big inroads into the amphetamines being trafficked into the streets of Cessnock; inroads for unregistered bikes being driven on the streets and the streets are getting cleaned up thanks to the great work of our officers," Mr Robinson said.

Cessnock MP Clayton Barr was involved in securing the money and said he's glad to see the government supporting the local community and police force.

"I want to thank the Minister for the announcement and acknowledge... there are a number of issues that are well above politics and policing is one of them," he said, "this will undoubtedly make the community even safer than it already is."

With the finance taken care of, final planning and development applications are set to go ahead now.

Police Minister Troy Grant meets with Clayton Barr MP and local officers. Image: 2NM.