CRAMPED QUARTERS
GROWING POLICE DEPARTMENT OUTGROWING
FORMER FIRE STATION
BY PETER A. SUTTERS JR. INDEPENDENT WRITER
The South Water Street station has served the Nantucket Police Department well ever since it expanded into the former fire department headquarters in 1980. But as the community it protects has grown, so has the department.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Nantucket Police Chief Bill Pittman stands outside the three male holding cells at the South Water Street Station. The aging cells do not meet health code regulations and Pittman hopes voters approved the CRAMPED financing for the public safety complex - which would house a police station- at Town Meeting next week.

Next week, voters will have a say in whether or not the town is authorized to borrow $27 million for the construction of a new public safety complex, which would house both the police department and fire department.

In order to give residents a clearer picture of the station on South Water Street, The Nantucket Independent requested a tour of the facilities - from the dispatch center to the holding cells to interview rooms and police officers' meeting space.

because they wanted to, but because they lack the storage space for more file boxes. ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Boxes and boxes of evidence and other files are stacked floor to ceiling in an attic like space on the second floor of the station. Pittman commented the department had gone to an almost totally digital form of document storage, not

"This is the easiest thing to do, giving these tours," said Lieutenant Angus MacVicar, who, along with Chief Bill Pittman, gave the tour. "There is no need to exaggerate or dress it up. It is what it is."

Pittman begins by explaining how the dispatch area works and the problems associated with the current setup. Separated only by a Plexiglas window from the small lobby that is often crowded with people coming in to file complaints, pay parking tickets, request taxi licenses or any other thing people stop by for, is one dispatcher responsible for taking 911 calls, coordinating the on duty officers' response to the calls and answering the questions of the public. "It's an issue of safety," said Pittman. "But it's also a distraction. You have to be able to focus 100 percent on the information coming in."

Pittman said in the new building, the dispatcher will be in a separate room and will only answer phones and coordinate responses. He said the dispatcher also will be a civilian, which is currently the case during the day. But at night an on duty officer must mind the phones, taking him or her off the streets.

If the public safety facility is voted down at Town Meeting, Pittman said there is a backup plan to relocate the dispatch area, possibly in the building to the rear where Visitor Services is now.

From the dispatch area, Pittman and MacVicar show off a recently constructed office where the victim witness advocate has a new cramped space where she can interview victims and file the proper paperwork for court cases. It is also used for meetings between officers or for interviewing suspects. The office was constructed in a garage bay that can no longer fit a police vehicle.

"This was out of necessity," said Pittman. "There was an incident on Broad Street last summer where an officer may have acted inappropriately. We had the two suspects in the interview rooms, and people in the lobby wanting to give statements for both sides. We had nowhere to be able to talk to an officer or take statements without people running into each other."

Outside the hastily constructed office in the garage is another row of lockers for officers to use. The space is also where prisoners are escorted out of the building for a court appearance or to be transferred off island.

"You can have a situation where someone you just arrested is walking by you while you are getting changed," said Macvicar, who added that officers may be changing when someone needs to get into the garage and simply opens the door, exposing the area to a wide audience on South Water Street.

Heading toward the back of the station, Pittman points out there are only two rooms for police to interview suspects and or witnesses.

"What often happens is we have a domestic incident and have the victim in one room and the suspect in the other," he said.

The two rooms are also used as work stations for officers to file reports and eat lunch; they also find use as juvenile holding cells. "State law says we can't lock a juvenile in the cells," said Pittman. "So if we have an incident where a juvenile is taken into custody, we have to keep them in one of these rooms, with all of the equipment, and have an officer babysit them."

The station has five eight-by-eight holding cells, with two that are designated for women only. None meet health code regulations, and a prisoner attempted to commit suicide last week by exploiting one of the violations. The prisoner was able to tear clothing and fashion a noose threaded through the grate of an air duct in the cell. Health code regulations mandate cell ceilings must be out of reach. "We were lucky to have seen him on the video surveillance," Pittman said. Benches in the cells are also a violation because of their hard edges, Pittman said.

The cells also lack a "pass-through port" - a small hole for passing food or unlocking handcuffs once the prisoner is in the cell - and has to be opened completely when access is needed. "This creates a dangerous situation," said Pittman. "If a suspect is acting up, there are ways to subdue him using the pass-through port. Here, you have to open the door to gain access."

Outside the two women's cells, in a cramped space only feet from the cell doors, sits a $50,000 fingerprint machine. Beyond that is an area reserved for the administration of Breathalyzer tests. Both machines block access to the farther women's cell, creating a hazard if quick access is needed, Pittman said.

Leaving the holding area and going back farther into the station, the conditions are not much better.

Outside the utility room, which doubles as officer locker space for summer specials, complete with a soda machine, sits a United States Post Office public mailbox that is used to store evidence. Officers seal evidence in an envelope and drop it in the mailbox like a utility bill. If the item is too large to fit, it is put in one of the bus-station-style lockers in the utility room.

Up a flight of stairs are half a dozen offices, including a room that sprang a leak last year where computer hardware is stored. An attic space along one side of the building with exposed insulation is used to store evidence and other files. A small closet contains weapons and ammunition, including the Sheriff's bushmaster assault rifles. There is also a small shelf space for cleaning firearms. At the end of the hall is perhaps the largest room in the station, which is used for pre-shift meetings, firearm storage, interviews and briefings.

A door on the far wall leads to a second staircase, which goes unused because of a crumbling wall.

Pittman said he is hopeful funding for the public safety complex will pass at Town Meeting. Asked about his department's options, Pittman said something will have to be built at some time.

"I think voters will see it's even more expensive to build separate facilities," said

Pittman. "I hope it gets passed." I