OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The new police station may be just walking distance from the present station, but there’s a world of difference between the two buildings.
The police department will begin moving into the new station, located on E. Emerson Cummings Boulevard alongside the driveway to The Ballpark, on Monday. Police expect to begin operations at the new location next week.
As Deputy Police Chief Keith Babin and Police Chief Dana Kelley gave a tour of the new building on Thursday afternoon, their excitement about the move was evident.
“This is our new home,” said Babin, standing in the sunny lobby.
Residents voted to approve $2.5 million for the new building, and Kelley and Babin said the project has come in under budget.
Kelley said Benchmark, the company that constructed the new building, was great. He said he was amazed the department was able to get such a nice building, along with items like new furniture and computers, below the anticipated cost.
“We’re pretty pleased with the way it came out,” said Kelley.
The new building is 10,000 square feet, more than three times the space the police department has in it current location in the public safety building, which it shares with the fire department at the corner of E. Emerson Cummings Boulevard and Saco Avenue.
The new building is better not just because it’s new, but also because the size and layout will make it easier for police to do their jobs, said Kelley.
As he and Babin walked though the building, a phrase that came up in conversation repeatedly when Kelley was talking was “better customer service.”
In the current building, constructed in 1975, space has been cramped for many years and it is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. A room upstairs serves as conference room, roll call room, interview room and break room. Off to the side are two computers the patrol officers share, and offices, including those for the deputy police chief and the lieutenant.
Office space is now designed for more privacy, without the distractions of all the activity that happens outside the door in the current office, said Babin.
The new building has a separate office for patrol officers, with 10 workstations with computers and phones. This will allow patrol officers to do their jobs more efficiently, said Kelley. In the current building, patrol officers use a shared phone system and sometimes voice mail messages are lost, said Kelley.
Separate interview space will provide a better setup when talking to victims of crimes about difficult subjects such as sexual assault, said Kelley.
The new building also has an evidence room so the department will be able to do more evidence processing in-house. The old building had a portable fingerprinting kit, but it was antiquated, police said.
Firearms will be stored in an armory room, not a cabinet like in the current building. Babin said the armory room will provide a more secure storage area, and guns will be kept in better condition and last longer.
The detention area is also a “major improvement” from what police have at the current station, and operations will be much safer, said Babin. There will now be a separate interview room with audio and video capacity, and a separate room for the intoxylizer, a devise used to determine someone’s blood alcohol content.
The new building has ADA compliant jail cell space, and cells have drainage systems for better cleanup. It also has much more storage space for evidence and a secure bay for vehicular evidence.
In the present station, file cabinets hog up hallway space and an unused jail cell, while the new building boasts a separate file room with a rolling filing system that utilizes the space effectively, said Babin.
There is also a break room, two locker rooms and a fitness room.
A community room can be used for meetings, which can be recorded and later broadcast. With the new room, the station will also be able to host trainings, which will allow the department to get some trainings for free, said Babin.
“This is something we’ve needed from day one,” said Kelley.
When staff come to work in a building like this, “You feel more professional,” said Kelley. “I think it’s going to be adequate for a long, long time.”
The police department will hold an open house for the new building in May, said Kelley.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.
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