Q: Is it necessary to move the police station? Why can’t our police station just expand where it’s already located?

A: It is actually necessary to move the police station. Because of its current location, there is no existing room to expand within the building or parking areas. To increase our staff efficiency and effectiveness and to relieve the overcrowding, the only options to build a new station or to renovate a vacant building — the City chose the less expensive option.

Q: I’ve never been inside the police station. Does it really need renovations?

A:Yes! Our current police station was built more than 35 years ago and is showing excessive wear and tear from round-the-clock use. When a building is used 24 hours a day, seven days a week for that many years, things wear out even more quickly than a standard business facility.

Q: How many calls did the Police Department field in 2006?

A: The Police Department fielded 122,450 calls in 2006. That’s an average of 335 calls each day.

Q: Why did those proposing these improvements decide to renovate an existing building instead of building an entirely new police station?

A: The decision was made to renovate a 100,000 + square-foot facility that is centrally located in the city instead of building a new station because renovations are cost effective.. and renovating an existing building is good civic stewardship, keeping a usable facility in service instead of letting it stand empty. It would have cost an estimated $27 million for a new facility, but the renovations of an already-existing building will cost $13 million – half the cost of a new facility.

Q: How much larger will the new facility be than the current station?

A:The new facility will triple the amount of available space. This gives the department plenty of room to grow and flexibility to adapt as technology increases. This extra space will give our police department the luxury of being able to expand when necessary without having to build additions to their building.

Q: What current needs is the Police Department unable to be satisfy with current space restrictions?

A:The current police facility does not have adequate meeting rooms, training rooms for staff and citizens, secure interview rooms for informants and suspects, evidence and property storage areas, locker rooms, or space for technology-related items. When the current station was built, some of our current units and equipment did not yet even exist: our forensic lab, the crimes scene unit, mobile data computers, and in-car video cameras, for example. There has never been effective space from which to operate our newest available technology.

The plan for the new facility will meet all of these needs and have room left over for future expansion needs. The new facility will also allow the department to better organize for more efficient operations and service. As more needs have surfaced over the past ten years, the police department has had to locate staff and equipment wherever space was available, rather than in logical areas. This move and renovation will remedy that, bringing divisions and different departments together in the same areas of the building — a simple thing we would assume would happen, but can’t with the current space restrictions.