Police Panel Considering Law Enforcement Space Needs

By Andrew Gorosko

Police Commission members again are considering the need for increased space for the 47-member police department, either through an expanded police station at 3 Main Street, or in the form of some new facilities elsewhere, possibly at Fairfield Hills.

Police Commission members discussed the topic at a February 3 session.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe told commission members that architect Brian Humes of Jacunski Humes Architects, LLC, of Berlin, is studying the potential to expand existing police facilities at 3 Main Street.

Chief Kehoe said he expects Mr Humes to report his findings to the Police Commission soon. Panel members would then consider the architect’s findings in terms of deciding whether it would be worthwhile to pursue expanding the police station.

The municipal building at 3 Main Street, known as Town Hall South, holds the police station and the emergency communications center on its upper level. The building holds the police garage, some town and borough offices on its lower level, as well as public meeting space.

If it is determined that expanding police facilities at 3 Main Street would be unworkable, Chief Kehoe suggested that Police Commission members approach the Fairfield Hills Authority (FHA) about securing an area at the town-owned Fairfield Hills campus for future police facilities.

At Fairfield Hills, the town is redeveloping Bridgeport Hall into office space for the town government and school system. That building formerly served as the main dining hall at Fairfield Hills State Hospital. The town acquired the 187-acre Fairfield Hills core campus, plus buildings, from the state for $3.9 million in August 2004.

Chief Kehoe said February 4 that police officials want to clearly show the need for increased space for police activities. Police have long said that their current quarters are physically inadequate for their local law enforcement role.

“We have legitimate space needs,” Chief Kehoe said.

Increased police space currently is not listed in the town’s five-year capital improvement plan. That document lists capital improvement projects planned by the town during the coming five years.

Mr Humes’ architectural study on the potential for expanding the police station would clarify whether the Police Commission should pursue a project to create more police space at 3 Main Street, the police chief said.

If the 3 Main Street site is unsuitable for expansion, then Fairfield Hills, where the town owns considerable land, would be the next option, Chief Kehoe said. Fairfield Hills is located in the geographical center of town.

Police Commission members met with Mr Humes last September to discuss police space needs. The architect then presented a draft study which indicates that the police department needs a 29,500-square-foot police station as it approaches the year 2030. That building would be much larger than the police department’s existing facilities.

According to that draft study, the total area of Town Hall South is 18,528 square feet, of which 8,624 square feet are on the upper level, and 9,904 square feet are on the lower level. The building sits on a 1.2-acre site. The two-story police station needed in the future should be on a site of at least 2.5 acres to provide adequate room for parking and other exterior activities, according to the architects.

A 29,500-square-foot police station would meet the police department’s needs for more than 20 years, Mr Humes has said. Mr Humes’ firm has designed the new Danbury police station, which is now under construction. The architectural company specializes in police station design.

Chief Kehoe has said that he likes the location of the existing police station, but added that he would have no problem with operating out of a police station at Fairfield Hills, provided that a Fairfield Hills police station is readily visible to the public. Town police could serve the public equally well from either location, he has said.

The town first occupied Town Hall South in 1980, refitting it for use as a police station and office space. The structure had been built in 1950, formerly having served as a farm and construction equipment dealership.

During the past decade, the town has made a range of physical improvements at Town Hall South. They include the construction of a garage for police vehicles, the creation of a storage area for the registrars of voters, the installation of drainage devices to improve stormwater control at the site, the construction of an emergency dispatching center, the installation of a new emergency generator, and the refitting of the police station interior to increase office space and provide better storage facilities, among other improvements.