AMHERST – A new temporary location has been found for the Amherst Police Department.
“We now have the police department at the fire department but we have confirmed plans to move them on a little bit more permanent basis to the top floor of the Four Fathers Library,” Amherst CAO Greg Herrett said Wednesday. “Depending on how things fall together that could happen as early as this weekend or sometime next week.”
The police department was forced to evacuate its offices on Victoria Street early Monday morning during the fire that destroyed the Windsor and Black Block buildings.
With the assistance of town staff and Aliant, the department was quickly set up in temporary quarters in the fire department. Since then, crews have gone into the police office and removed as much material as possible.
The police office suffered extensive water and smoke damage, but it has yet to be determined if there is any structural damage to the building that has been the department’s home since the mid-1990s.
Herrett said insurance adjustors are going through the normal process that follows an insurable loss and it will likely be some time before an assessment is completed and a decision made on the financial implications of that assessment.
“It’s too early in the game to say what’s going to happen,” Herrett said.
