Expanded Locker Rooms, More Interrogation Rooms Needed for New Station

The police station’s basement is filled with lockers.

They spill out from the original locker room, down the hallway and into the exercise room. 

The issues don't stop with the lockers. There’s just one shower and toilet in the locker room, and some of the officers have to change and store their supplies in the hallway. It’s not a problem at the moment, since all of the officers are men, but it could become one in the future. 

When the station was built, there were just about a dozen officers. Now there are 28 full-time officers and another six part-time officers, said Chief Michael Carlin. 

After years of discussion, the city is moving forward with plans to build a new police station for the department. Construction won’t begin until 2013 or 2014. 

“We’re looking forward to it,” Hruby said.

There are a lot of improvements to be made. Carlin said on a recent tour of the station that the department makes it work with what they have, but the facilities are limited. There’s just one room that’s used for interrogations, line-ups, video arraignments and interviews. If it’s in use when someone is arrested, they just have to wait in one of the small cells. The inmate shower is tucked in a corner down the hall, directly next to the fingerprint machines and the jailer’s office. 

Sergeants and detectives are assigned in twos and threes to crowded offices, and about 20 officers have to take turns on three computers to file reports. The evidence lockers are stuck along a wall next to the stairs, and Carlin said the department only uses the outdated shooting range in the lower level a few times a year. The station is connected to City Hall, and it would be a bit surprising to hear gunfire on a typical day.