Officers from Somerset Police Station have moved temporarily to Dockyard while a new radio tower is built.

Chief Inspector Calvin Smith told a press conference today that the move was only likely to be for three or four weeks, while an older radio tower is replaced at the Somerset Road station in Sandys.

“It will affect approximately 48 officers who will work out of this station,” he said, gesturing to a newly renovated building at Dockyard, which will temporarily house the Somerset team and will soon provide a permanent home for marine police and community police officers.

The officer, who is charge of Bermuda Police Service’s response department for the whole Island, said the temporary move of Somerset officers should have no impact on the time it takes officers to respond to emergency calls.

“The physical structure of the station has no bearing on response times,” he said. “The response depends on where the [nearest] police car is.”

Ch Insp Smith said the Dockyard building would house about a dozen marine officers and a dozen community officers when it officially opened.

He added that it was the first police presence in Dockyard “for as long as I can remember”. “It’s always a good thing to have a police presence,” he added.

A BPS press release said a phone box would be put on the wall outside Somerset Police Station to automatically connect to the on-duty officer at Dockyard.

The enquiry desk there will be manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until the radio tower is in place and normal functions resume in Somerset.

“Residents can expect to continue to see highly visible patrol officers in the Somerset area, as well as the officers of the Western Community Action Team who will be out and about in the neighbourhoods,” stated the release.

“Officers will continue to come and go from the Somerset Police Station outside of the hours that the tower is being worked on. However, from a safety and health perspective, a temporary move of the enquiry desk and administrative functions of the station were felt necessary.”

The address of the new police building at Dockyard is building number 15, 2 Sally Port Lane, North Basin, next to the Makin’ Waves store.

Telephone number 234-1010 remains the contact number for Somerset Police Station and all emergency calls should be to 911.