Sandwich Police Department holds open house at new facility

Sandwich resident Teresa Libner was impressed Oct. 25 as she walked around Sandwich Police Department’s Public Safety Center during an open house.

“I love it,” Libner said. “It’s awesome. I know the last building they had was very small, so I’m happy for the police department.”

This is the first time Libner had been inside the facility, which fully opened its doors earlier this year. The building, which had once housed a custom stair manufacturer, is located at 1251 E. Sixth St.

The building was bought by the city in 2016 for about $500,000. To finance the project, the city sold $3.2 million in bonds, which will be repaid over a 20-year period.

Libner and other visitors got a behind-the-scenes look at the police station, including seeing its evidence and records storage areas and holding cells.

Accompanying Libner on the tour of the facility was her 5-year-old son, Lincoln, who was wearing a pumpkin costume. The building itself was decked out in Halloween decorations.

During the tour, Lincoln got to meet Sandwich Police Chief Kevin Senne, who gave him a police vest to try on.

That made him happy.

“I liked wearing it,” said Lincoln, who would like to someday become a police officer.

Senne was sworn in as Sandwich’s new police chief during the Sept. 5 Sandwich City Council meeting. The city decided not to renew the contract of former Sandwich police chief Jim Bianchi, whose contract expired at the end of April. He had served as police chief since September 2013.

Senne likes the openness of the building.

“It has room for growth,” Senne said. “That is a good concept in itself, to be able to look forward and plan for the future knowing that you have a facility that can handle that.”

The public safety center contains to take shape. Plans for a workout area in the building to help the police force keep in shape continue to move forward.

The police department is looking to hire two officers. The city’s Police and Fire Commission has been conducting interviews with candidates.

“Hopefully they will be giving me a list in the next couple of weeks,” Senne said.

The department currently has 13 officers and is authorized to have 15 officers. Being at full force will allow the department to have three people on each shift – a sergeant and two officers.

“Our goal is for next school year to have a school resource officer assigned to the schools,” Senne said.

The school resource officer’s main focus would be the Sandwich Middle School and the Sandwich High School.