Campbell police’s garage doors pose security problem, chief says

By Jeanne Starmack

Officers have to be able to close the doors because the jail is in the building.

CAMPBELL — The police department’s garage doors have seen better days to the point where they are becoming a security problem, says the police chief.

He would like the city council to tell him what became of an effort to secure stimulus money that might have been used to fix the doors.

For the past two council meetings, Chief Gus Sarigianopoulos has asked council members to check on what happened.

Lewis Jackson, city administrator, said that when stimulus money was first going to become available, the city’s former finance director made a list of doors and windows in the city building that need to be replaced. He said he doesn’t know what happened after that.

Sherman Miles, the city’s present finance director, said he is checking into what happened and hopes to know by next week’s council meeting.

Officer John Gulu said the garage doors have been in bad shape for at least three years.

“They don’t open and close properly,” he said. “The contacts don’t work. They’ve been nickled-and-dimed back together.”

Gulu said the doors pose a security problem if they get stuck open, because there is a jail at the police department.

“We have to have a secured facility,” he said. “We can’t have the doors open. Someone could come in and help a prisoner escape.”

“My question was, they had a grant they were applying for — what happened?” Sarigianopoulos said.

“You’re putting a Band-Aid on a wound,” Gulu said about temporary fixes.

“Those doors go up and down 24-7,” Sarigianopoulos said.