Lemon Tree Passage's new police station has quietly become operational in recent weeks, however hopes for a chance for the community to get a peek inside - at least in the immediate term - have been affected by the ongoing COVID-19 situation in NSW.
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In a message posted on social media on Friday, Port Stephens-Hunter Police District commander Superintendent Chad Gillies said the two officers based at Lemon Tree Passage - Senior Constable Luke Withers and Senior Constable Peter Boys - had shifted to the new site on Meredith Avenue, at the Gould Drive intersection, in the past few weeks.
"Our old police station in Lemon Tree Passage wasn't really fit-for-purpose. It was a leased facility that had been there for a long, long time," Superintendent Gillies said in a video recorded from the site.
"[The new station is] better located for the locals here in Lemon Tree Passage, but more importantly for local police here - they have all they need to do their job well. It's fitted with the latest technology ... I think it's going to be an asset not only to police but to the local community here."
Superintendent Gillies said he hoped to hold an open day for the community when the COVID-19 situation settled in NSW. In early 2019, the then state Police Minister Troy Grant announced $1.5 million in government funding for the modular police station. The government bought the Meredith Street site in May 2020, about a two minute drive from the existing police station on Cook Parade. Overseeing the installation was the company Modscape which designed and built the new modular station in Karuah - a $1m project completed in 2019.
