On Thursday, August 25, 2005, Colonel Thomas G. Robbins, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police joined Governor Mitt Romney, State Senator Mark Montigny, and Commissioner David Perini from the Division of Capital Asset Management to break ground for the new 16,500-square-feet, state-of-the-art Dartmouth Barracks. Secretary Edward Flynn of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Troop D personnel also participated in the ceremony.
Colonel Robbins stated that, when completed late next summer, the new Barracks will replace the current 3,600-square-feet North Dartmouth barracks. The current barracks was built as a private residence in the 1920s and was then converted to a barracks in the late 1940s. The new facility will have a cell block area - a feature currently lacking in the existing barracks. The new barracks will also have a community room, a secure interview room, a report writing room, a conference room, separate male/female locker facilities, a fitness area and a prisoner sally port. The Barracks is also designed to provide space for several specialized State Police units such as the Gang Unit and the Governor's Auto Theft Strike Force.
The new barracks is located next to the ramps from Faunce Corner Road to Route 195. Colonel Robbins indicated, "This site will enhance the State Police's ability to provide quality policing to the communities which the Dartmouth barracks serves. As one of the State's busiest barracks, SP Dartmouth is responsible for patrolling 60 miles along three major highways: Routes 24, 195 and 140 - which include major thorough fares through the cities of New Bedford and Fall River and to the state of Rhode Island. SP Dartmouth also provides nearly 50 miles of secondary coverage for communities along the South Coast."
Governor Romney used the occasion to announce that the Fiscal Year 2006 Budget provides the funding that he requested for another State Police Academy class. The 79 th Recruit Training Troop, the third class to enter the Academy over the past two years, is slated to begin in February of 2006.
Colonel Robbins would like to thank Governor Romney for his commitment to enhancing the law enforcement capabilities of the State Police and thus in turn enhancing public safety to the citizens of the Commonwealth. The Colonel would also like to thank all those members of the Governor's Office, the Executive Office of Public Safety, the Division of Capital Asset Management and the Department of State Police, along with the elected officials from the South Coast, whose efforts were instrumental in bringing to fruition the goal of erecting a new State Police Barracks in Dartmouth.
