WILLISTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Out with the old, and in with the new! We got an inside look at the upgraded Vermont State Police barracks in Williston and found out why the $30 million upgrade will improve trooper responsiveness to the public.
“You go from you buy a new house, you buy a new car, you have that energy and it’s turning over into excitement to go out there and help people,” Vt. State Police Sgt. Todd Stackhouse said.
State police have been fully operational out of their new Williston barracks for more than a month, saying goodbye to the old location where they had been for more than 30 years—a welcome change for troopers.
“The facility as a whole wasn’t really working for our emergency vehicles as far as special teams, as far as our boats with the marine division, just not equipped for our own working environment,” Tpr. Shamir Exantus said.
Exantus is in his third year on the force and says responding to calls out of the new location less than a mile down the road from the old barracks is easier, cutting down on response times.
“We actually had to wait a little bit a ways for people to actually slow down and let us out. Here we have more of an accessible area coming out of here, being so close to Hinesburg area and close to the interstate, a faster way to get to calls,” said Exantus.
The new facility houses a majority of the state police special teams and vehicles for the crime scene search team, mobile command post, and bomb squad.
VSP says the new compound provides more safety and security for employees.
“We have the fence around the building, the dispatchers have their own safe, secure area to park, the access control within the building. You come into the building, you can only get to certain parts without a key card, so that’s all different than the old barracks,” said Stackhouse.
The barracks also serves as northern Vermont’s 911 call center. Staffed 24/7, 365 days a year, using brand new state-of-the-art technology, dispatchers say they’re able to turn calls around faster.
“As soon as the 911 call taker gets the information and sends it on to us, we can receive it and get units going and get the correct personnel responding immediately. The ease of the desk, the technology– it’s making it a lot easier for us to do that job in a timely manner,” said Pam Knox, the supervisor of PSAP Emergency Communications.
According to the town of Williston, the state still owns the old barracks. However, Town Manager Erik Wells says the town wants to make sure if it is available for purchase that they have the first opportunity.
