Smoking ceremony marks opening of new Mt Druitt police station to staff, public
A smoking ceremony has marked a milestone for the new Mt Druitt police station today, which will open to the public this weekend.
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A smoking ceremony has been held at Mt Druitt as police prepare to move into the new multimillion-dollar police station.
The Mt Druitt Police Area Command will transition to the $25 million facility this week, with the station to be open to the public by the weekend.
Mt Druitt police and the community gathered on Tuesday morning to observe a traditional smoking ceremony led by Darug elder Lex Dadd ahead of the station’s official opening in September.
Acting Superintendent Gemini Bakos said the new facility would accommodate more than 200 staff, in addition to Traffic and Highway Patrol officers, the dog unit and the Operations Support Group.
“Today there will be a lot of administration files moved in and tomorrow our bodies will start moving in, so our general duties, frontline and ancillary staff will be moving in,” Acting Superintendent Bakos said.
“Our custody area, or cell area, should be up and running by the 14th of June.
“Essentially, the police station will be running by the weekend for the public.”
The development is the first major upgrade since the opening of the original police station in 1975.
The new station features modern cells, interview rooms, a van loading dock, charge dock and charge room facilities along with a new CCTV setup, open-plan workspaces and a canteen for staff.
Acting Superintendent Bakos said the state-of-the-art facility was expected to be a morale booster for staff.
“The morale that will come from this move will be enormous,” she said.
“It’s very open plan, the conversation between the crews can be generated and they can discuss jobs and incidents.
“The supervision will be very close to the ground level, so the supervising sergeant in charge of the shift will be right near the troops on the ground.
“The cells and custody facilities are top of the line … they have a lot more space, even down to the temperature and the airconditioning in the cell area, which is a lot better.
“It’s a lot more user friendly for the police to work in, which makes for a happier environment.
“There’s ample room for storage, for paperwork and briefs of evidence. Property storage has tripled in size and vehicle parking is far better than it used to be.”
She said today’s smoking ceremony was important in symbolising a positive relationship between the local command and the Indigenous community.
“Mt Druitt has a large population of Aboriginal people, so it’s really important for the police and the Aboriginal community to have an unspoken respect,” she said.
“This for us represents a build upon the respect we already have, to heal any relationships and to move forward positively and demonstrate to the Aboriginal community that we are there to support them.”
Senior project manager Chris Prior of BGIS — the team behind the development — said the station was currently the newest in NSW.
“It’s one of the bigger builds that’s happened in the past few years,” Mr Prior said.
“The command is the third busiest in the state, so operationally, there’s a lot of security that has gone into it.
“The custody areas are state of the art and there’s a big area upstairs for detectives, the proactive command and general duties officers.
“The old station had all electric lighting with no windows and all the buildings had just been tacked on. Now, there’s plenty of light coming in and it’s a great place to work.”
The next stage of the project will involve the completion of new carpark facilities for Traffic and Highway Patrol and the demolition of temporary buildings.
A date for the official opening is expected to be announced in the coming months.
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