Chief pleased with new station

The chief says the modern building will save the city money in the long run.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HUBBARD -- For city police, it's out with the old, in with the new.
The new $1.4 million police station is less than three weeks from completion. Officers and personnel should be moved into the facility sometime in July.
Police Chief James Taafe has walked through the 90 percent-complete building and is impressed by what it will offer to department personnel -- especially those things that are not in the current facility on West Liberty Street.
"This has really been a long time coming for us. The mayor has really gone out of his way to make sure we have a first-class facility, and we couldn't be happier," he said. "We have gone from horse and buggy to almost a Cadillac sort of thing."
The differences are evident as soon as one walks through the intake area where officers will bring prisoners into the station.
The intake garage and area immediately inside the building are equipped with showers where officers, and possibly prisoners, can shower after leaving an unsavory environment with lice or other creatures. Officers now, Taafe said, do not have such immediate showering capabilities.
Separate booking rooms
Another major upgrade with the new building, Taafe said, is the ability to separate feuding parties during the booking process.
"One of our biggest problems is that we cannot separate these people. If you had, for example, a domestic violence situation, at the station you bring the parties back together in the same room," he said.
The new building has two rooms for booking. Officers, according to Taafe, can separate feuding individuals and obtain separate statements without either person seeing or hearing the other one.
The new facility also has two holding cells where prisoners can be held for up to 24 hours. One of the cells has a lowered sleeping area for potential prisoners who have had too much alcohol.
Taafe said one area of the new facility that will save the city money in the years to come is an interview room with video arraignment capabilities.
Those being arraigned now have to be transported to the county jail for holding and video arraignment or transported directly to the Girard Municipal Court.
The in-house video arraignment capabilities will save the city on fuel and transportation costs, Taafe said.
Interview room
The facility has a primary interview room, which will have a table for interviews and a one-way mirror where witnesses can view suspects without being seen -- something the current police department does not have, Taafe said.
The radio room in the new facility has dual-mirrored work stations. Taafe said the new setup will allow several dispatchers to work independently and more efficiently in the event of a major event or emergency.
The basement contains a myriad of equipment and options currently not available to police personnel. There is a training room with space for 32 people, an exercise room with standard exercise and weightlifting equipment, and men's and women's locker rooms complete with showers.
jgoodwin@vindy.com