It was the classic case of old meets new, but the almost complete police station for Inverell left two former officers with the same description - 'mind-blowing'.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Greg Chie, team leader and station manager between 1994 and his retirement in 2009, was one of eight retired and former officers to be taken on the first grand tour on Friday.
The tour members had between then 250 years of service, and were guided through by current station manager Sergeant Ross Chilcott.
READ ALSO
As secretary of the New England branch of the Retired and Former Police Association,, Mr Chie said it was "just fabulous".
"It meets the requirements of the town now and in the future, and should cater for more staff as the need arises," he told the Times.
In charge of the station back in the day, there were certainly things from the new build he wished he had then.
"Well, the entire station - it's a huge improvement to what was here in '94!" he laughed.
"But the security facilities, they will keep both the staff and the customers safe while they're here, for whatever they're here for."
Brian Bowman, team leader here for five years from 2000, agreed.
"It's mind-blowing - what we had and what we've got now," he said, marveling at the size of the rooms.
"And now we've got the dog squad here too, and they're the greatest thing since sliced bread."
Sergeant Chilcott gave the group some tidbits of information about the build and the process behind aspects of the make-up.
"It was good to have them in here, to show them how everything is now," he said.
Officer in Charge Sergeant Cameron Paine popped in to have a chat with the suitably impressed group, and said things were going well in putting the final pieces together for both the move in day and the official opening ceremony on 17 May.
The kicker for him: "it's the first time all of Inverell's police departments have been together under one roof."
The new Inverell Police Station has undercover parking bays, plenty of storage space, new main access, secure fencing and undercover access way connecting the police station to the Inverell Court House.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark inverelltimes.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @inverelltimes
- Follow us on Instagram @inverelltimes
- Follow us on Google News
