A new $19m police station for Young could be a reality if the Coalition is returned to government in the 25 March state election. Photo: Google Maps.
Long has it been promised and if the 25 March election goes the Coalition’s way, Young will have a new police station.
So says Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke, who last week gave an undertaking $19 million would be set aside for a new facility to house the town’s constabulary.
Ms Cooke said the investment would deliver a larger and more modern policing hub that would allow general duties officers, detectives, the highway patrol, the proactive crime team and the Crime Prevention Unit to operate under one roof.
The current station is split by Cloete Street, which runs parallel to the town’s main thoroughfare, Boorowa Street, with accommodation for the district’s officer-in-charge and detectives occupying a small wedge of a brown-brick building – located between Young Courthouse and St John’s Anglican Church Hall – which once acted as the town lockup.
The small former lock-up keeper’s residence and jail across the road from the main station now houses the detectives and officer-in-charge of the Young Police District. Photo: Google Maps.
Over the road, the rest of the force members have had to practically crawl over each other to get their work done in a brown-brick building that was a family home until its conversion to a police station in the mid-1980s.
“Young’s police station has been in operation since 1930 and while it’s served the community well, it’s time to invest in a modern new home for the officers who work so hard every day to keep our community safe,” Ms Cooke said.
“Locals know I’ve been fighting for years to ensure Young gets the modern fit-for-purpose police station it deserves – and I’m proud that’s what a re-elected Liberal and Nationals Government will deliver,” she added.
In a town that is rapidly expanding, a new station would meet the current and future needs of the community and surrounding areas.
Young Police Station has been the subject of community calls for an upgrade that hark back decades, with Hilltops councillors and the community drawing attention to the inadequate and cramped conditions the local police, highway patrol and detectives were operating under.
It was raised as a priority requirement for the town in state parliament in 2017 by then Member for Cootamundra Katrina Hodgkinson.
According to Ms Cooke, a final business case would determine the site for the new station.
Loading ...
