(July 21, 2016) In less than two years, the Berlin Police Department expects to move into a new $2.5 million station that more than triples the size of its current building and brings many of its amenities up to current standards.
The Town Council on July 11 approved a bid by Willow Construction LLC to build the new station near the corner of Flower Street and Route 376.
The town used casino revenue to buy the property, and will continue to use those funds to finance design and construction costs.
Town Administrator Laura Allen said contractor Crosby & Associates worked on the design and assisted with the bid process. Five bidders responded to a request for proposals and were narrowed down to two, with the lowest bid winning.
“What this will do is this will get [police] a state-of-the-art facility that meets all the current requirements. Not that we’re out of compliance, but they have workarounds that they have to engage in when they handle different situations that they won’t have to work so hard at with this facility,” she said.
According to Planning Director Dave Engelhart, the new police station will be about 7,100 square feet. He estimated the existing building was 2,000 square feet or smaller.
Engelhart said a preconstruction meeting was scheduled for Friday, and that the permit process could take about a month. The new station could be open in about 18 months.
He said Lt. Robert Fisher helped with some of the initial design work, and said he was impressed with how Crosby & Associates operated throughout the process.
For Berlin Police Chief Arnold Downing, the new building has been a long time coming. While the current building has been “home” for decades, many of the facilities there have become inadequate because of their age and the department’s growth.
“We are audited by the state every three to five years. When they look at facilities, they look at site and separation of prisoners and those sort of things, and because this building is so old, we’ve been grandfathered in,” he said. “A lot of times, where we would have failed [inspection], they said your building is too old and there isn’t anything you can do different, but because you have a new building in the planning process we’ll go ahead and wait.
“The big thing is you can walk in the front door of this police agency and walk straight out the back door,” Downing added. “You don’t have a breakdown of an area where it’s fully secure. Those are things that new, proper stations have.”
Downing said he often has to turn away people who come in for fingerprinting, because it would expose them to someone who is in police custody.
“We have civilian employees, plus we have guests that are here. We should never have an area where the prisoners and the civilians or citizens actually have to meet or have space they both utilize regularly,” he said.
Moreover, he said there are currently 14 police officers sharing four desks, not to mention drawers and other storages spaces.
“With any kind of business, it’s more productive to have your own space and area to actually place your equipment,” Downing said.
In extreme cases, Downing said officers have had to go home or to Atlantic General Hospital to clean off after an incident on duty. At the new station, police will have showers.
And while schools often design buildings to meet current standards, he said the new station would look further into the future.
“The technology itself, we’re going from yesterday’s technology closer to tomorrow’s technology. We’re looking at a building that looks out 50-plus years in the sense that the space itself is already integrated. We’ll have more space than we need, so when the agency grows, we’ll naturally grow with it without breaking any walls out,” he said.
Along with bringing the facilities up to date, Downing said the new building has already provided a huge morale boost for personnel.
“They finally see the light at the end of the tunnel in that we’re getting something that is proper and that is modern,” he said. “You don’t feel safe in places that have doors that swing open, or where you take two steps and you’re out the back door. Or, in the areas where you bring in prisoners and you open the back door, you see family members looking at you and having the ability to walk up to and beat on the back door.
“Now, we actually have a sally port [and] we actually have a fenced in area, so when we’re talking about officer safety, the features themselves allow us to have a lot of those things. We have areas where people can sit down and talk and not be in a lobby. You’ll be able walk right on inside the building in a larger, more inviting atmosphere,” Downing added.
Downing is the only officer who was around when Atlantic General Hospital was built, and he remembers the excitement at seeing the physical walls go up as the building went from a two-dimensional design to an actual thing you could see and touch. He expects to see a similar level of interest as construction of the new station progresses.
“Once we had the [council] vote, everybody had a little spike in excitement, but now we’re tempered again. All the way through the process we’ve been tempered, because we know that things change and you have to wait for the process to work itself out,” he said. “But when we have the first dig, we’re going to have another spike in excitement, and then when the first walls go up we’ll have another one.
“In the near future, we’re going to have those moments of excitement, of seeing it. If you look at the paper, it’s totally different. It looks pretty, but when you actually have something you can touch and drive around it’s so much more meaningful,” Downing added.
The Town Council on July 11 approved a bid by Willow Construction LLC to build the new station near the corner of Flower Street and Route 376.
The town used casino revenue to buy the property, and will continue to use those funds to finance design and construction costs.
Town Administrator Laura Allen said contractor Crosby & Associates worked on the design and assisted with the bid process. Five bidders responded to a request for proposals and were narrowed down to two, with the lowest bid winning.
“What this will do is this will get [police] a state-of-the-art facility that meets all the current requirements. Not that we’re out of compliance, but they have workarounds that they have to engage in when they handle different situations that they won’t have to work so hard at with this facility,” she said.
According to Planning Director Dave Engelhart, the new police station will be about 7,100 square feet. He estimated the existing building was 2,000 square feet or smaller.
Engelhart said a preconstruction meeting was scheduled for Friday, and that the permit process could take about a month. The new station could be open in about 18 months.
He said Lt. Robert Fisher helped with some of the initial design work, and said he was impressed with how Crosby & Associates operated throughout the process.
For Berlin Police Chief Arnold Downing, the new building has been a long time coming. While the current building has been “home” for decades, many of the facilities there have become inadequate because of their age and the department’s growth.
“We are audited by the state every three to five years. When they look at facilities, they look at site and separation of prisoners and those sort of things, and because this building is so old, we’ve been grandfathered in,” he said. “A lot of times, where we would have failed [inspection], they said your building is too old and there isn’t anything you can do different, but because you have a new building in the planning process we’ll go ahead and wait.
“The big thing is you can walk in the front door of this police agency and walk straight out the back door,” Downing added. “You don’t have a breakdown of an area where it’s fully secure. Those are things that new, proper stations have.”
Downing said he often has to turn away people who come in for fingerprinting, because it would expose them to someone who is in police custody.
“We have civilian employees, plus we have guests that are here. We should never have an area where the prisoners and the civilians or citizens actually have to meet or have space they both utilize regularly,” he said.
Moreover, he said there are currently 14 police officers sharing four desks, not to mention drawers and other storages spaces.
“With any kind of business, it’s more productive to have your own space and area to actually place your equipment,” Downing said.
In extreme cases, Downing said officers have had to go home or to Atlantic General Hospital to clean off after an incident on duty. At the new station, police will have showers.
And while schools often design buildings to meet current standards, he said the new station would look further into the future.
“The technology itself, we’re going from yesterday’s technology closer to tomorrow’s technology. We’re looking at a building that looks out 50-plus years in the sense that the space itself is already integrated. We’ll have more space than we need, so when the agency grows, we’ll naturally grow with it without breaking any walls out,” he said.
Along with bringing the facilities up to date, Downing said the new building has already provided a huge morale boost for personnel.
“They finally see the light at the end of the tunnel in that we’re getting something that is proper and that is modern,” he said. “You don’t feel safe in places that have doors that swing open, or where you take two steps and you’re out the back door. Or, in the areas where you bring in prisoners and you open the back door, you see family members looking at you and having the ability to walk up to and beat on the back door.
“Now, we actually have a sally port [and] we actually have a fenced in area, so when we’re talking about officer safety, the features themselves allow us to have a lot of those things. We have areas where people can sit down and talk and not be in a lobby. You’ll be able walk right on inside the building in a larger, more inviting atmosphere,” Downing added.
Downing is the only officer who was around when Atlantic General Hospital was built, and he remembers the excitement at seeing the physical walls go up as the building went from a two-dimensional design to an actual thing you could see and touch. He expects to see a similar level of interest as construction of the new station progresses.
“Once we had the [council] vote, everybody had a little spike in excitement, but now we’re tempered again. All the way through the process we’ve been tempered, because we know that things change and you have to wait for the process to work itself out,” he said. “But when we have the first dig, we’re going to have another spike in excitement, and then when the first walls go up we’ll have another one.
“In the near future, we’re going to have those moments of excitement, of seeing it. If you look at the paper, it’s totally different. It looks pretty, but when you actually have something you can touch and drive around it’s so much more meaningful,” Downing added.