Pumping station eyed as site for new cop shop in Swampscott

SWAMPSCOTT – The Town Building Study Committee has recommended the town-owned pumping station on Humphrey Street as the site for a new police station. The committee has been studying the best possible use for all town-owned buildings and is prepared to make its recommendations at the annual Town Meeting.Police Chief Ronald Madigan said he would support a new facility on the pumping station site.”A new station is preferable to retrofitting an existing structure,” he said. “A new building would be designed to meet the needs of the department. We have some conceptual drawings for a new police station on the site.”Madigan pointed out that 11 years ago, a town committee recommended building a new police station on the pumping station site but it never materialized.In previous interviews, Madigan said the existing police station is a public safety nightmare. The police station was built in 1938 and other than a small addition to the rear of the building there have been no changes or upgrades. According to Madigan, the holding cells, which are used to house up to 450 prisoners a year, are obsolete. He said when prisoners are brought into the station they have to been taken through areas open to the public and escorted down two flights of narrow stairs to the cells. He said an officer was out for eight months with an injury he received struggling with a prisoner on the stairs leading to cells.Madigan pointed out the station is not handicapped accessible, which is problematic for residents who have to conduct business in the station and for handicapped prisoners. Another issue with the 5,500-foot aging facility is lack of facilities for female officers. The women’s bathroom is a closet that was converted to a restroom.The committee is recommending leasing the existing police station to an ambulance service. It is also recommending the Phillips Beach Fire Station, which is currently being used by an ambulance service, be sold as surplus. The committee stipulates if the property is sold it should be for use only as a single family home with the following restrictions: the original 1903 structure is preserved and the development of the parcel is subject to oversight by a town-appointed committee.A new police station is something that has been promised for years and funding for it was secured on at least one occasion. In May 2003, Town Meeting authorized borrowing money to renovate the existing police station. The plans called for extending the carport on the left side of the police station and building out the second floor, physically connecting the fire and police stations. But two years later Town Meeting members voted in favor of purchasing the 3.5-acre Temple Israel property instead and money previously authorized for the police station renovations were put towards the Temple Israel purchase.At that time there was overwhelming support among town officials and Town Meeting members alike for retrofitting a portion of the site for use as a police station. But according to the executive summary issued by the Town Building Study Committee, the town should sell the Temple Israel property instead of retaining it for municipal use.