Hamilton Street Police Sub-Station In The Works

Hamilton Street Advisory Board vice chairman Tim Kelly said he is willing to donate a building he owns in the business district for use as a police sub-station.

Plans are in motion for a police sub-station in the Hamilton Street business district.

Hamilton Street Advisory Board vice-chairman Tim Kelly said at the May 9 meeting that he is willing to donate a building he owns at 586 Hamilton St. for the sub-station.

“I don’t want any rent for it,” Kelly said of the roughly 600-square-foot building. He said he would also pay for utilities.

Reducing crime in the business district has been the advisory board’s priority since it was formed two years ago. The idea of a sub-station was first broached by Kelly several months ago, but was stalled for lack of a venue.

Kelly said a short-term tenant he had in the building left, and he has no desire to try to rent it out again.

Kelly said the building could be used as a place to store the two Hamilton Street community police officers’ bicycles, and also as a place to hold the “Coffee with a Cop” sessions with local residents.

Police Sgt. Anthony Bisignano said a memorandum of agreement for the use of the building is being developed.

“We definitely want to be down there,” he said. “It’s more for visibility than anything else.”

Board member Jamie Yeh said the thought was a “great idea.”

“Lots of the bigger cities have police sub-stations,” he said.

Township manager Robert Vornlocker said there is precedent for having sub-stations in the township. He said that in the last incarnation of community policing, which he was a part of, areas were set aside on the Parkside housing building and in Society Hill, among other places.

“It’s a place for the officers to meet the residents and business owners in the area they are policing,” he said. “It’s a great idea.”

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