The Commonwealth’s capital spending supports important public safety projects and programs that ensure the safety of our citizens and communities. Public safety capital investments range from carrying out projects at Massachusetts military facilities to addressing the equipment and facilities needs of the state police, chief medical examiner, homeland security and emergency response agencies.
The chart below shows the planned five-year capital investments in public safety, as compared to projected fiscal year 2010 spending.
$15 million to continue the implementation of the State Police digital wireless public safety radio network in western Massachusetts. This project will facilitate wide-area communications for public safety agencies operating in western Massachusetts, and will integrate seamlessly into the existing legacy 800 MHz network in place throughout the Commonwealth.
$6 million for completion of Phase II of the expansion of the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy at Stow. Funding is also allocated to acquire an existing City of Springfield Fire Training Academy and develop it into a western regional facility to supplement the Stow facility. Both of these projects are funded through assessments on property insurance policies and are thus reflected as “project financed” in the table above.
Completion of the $15.3 million Methuen National Guard Readiness Center for the Military Division. This project was fully federally funded, but managed by DCAM in collaboration with the local National Guard.
The strategic master plan for the State Police will be finalized. This comprehensive study identifies capital investments which will better align the facilities infrastructure of the State Police with the needs of modern operations. The majority of barracks, for example, were constructed in the 1920’s and 1930’s and state policing operations have significantly changed since that era.
Planning will begin for two replacement facilities for the medical examiner in the Worcester and western regions of the state.
Planning and design for the $13.5 million National Guard Readiness Center in Natick will commence. This project will be partially federally funded, but managed by DCAM in collaboration with the National Guard.
It should be noted that the investments shown above do not include public-safety related information technology investments or investments in correctional facilities, which instead are included in the Information Technology and Corrections categories described elsewhere in this report.