By Kath Gannaway
Police move out to make way for a new HQ…
Warburton police will move out of the portable building they have called home for decades on 6 September.
Their departure to a temporary home at Yarra Junction Police Station signals the start of construction of a long-awaited new $1.5 million station for the town.
The new station is one of seven new stations announced as part of a $36.8 million package in the 2016/17 State Government budget.
Warburton Sergeant Tom Wilkinson welcomed the news back in April 2016 as a win/win for the police officers serving in the station, those to come, and for the Warburton community.
He said it would assist Warburton police in the way that they responded to the community and addresses a lot of the issues in response to the safety and wellbeing of the members.
The new station will be built on the site of the current station in the centre of the town with officers retaining the outstanding feature of their old home – the magnificent views over the town to the mountains beyond.
With the demolition of the old station imminent, Sgt Wilkinson said the police officers who have served in the second-rate conditions at Warburton had waited their turn.
“I have certainly pushed for a new station at every opportunity with every parliamentarian over the years,” he told the Mail back in 2016.
With the long-held plans approaching reality, Sgt Wilkinson said he was pleased with the prospect.
“It’s going to be wonderful for the officers here, and for our community to have a new station,” he said.
“It’s going to give a number of options for us to run joint agency meetings and with better amenities in respect to privacy, we will be able to function much better.”
Warburton police will still be servicing their patch and Sgt Wilkinson said that for anyone wanting police attendance, the critical number to ring was, as it always is, triple zero (000).
