Crime & Safety

Police Department is Stuck in the 70s

Since a $500,000 state grant was secured for a renovation and addition to police headquarters, the work has yet to be done.

A women's locker-room in a bathroom stall, Staples furniture that's falling apart, tape around door frames to keep water out from flooding toilets, exposed wiring and lockers donated by K-Mart.

These are just some of the conditions of the Monroe Police Department, which is housed in a building built in 1972, with few improvements since opening its doors at 7 Fan Hill Road 38 years ago.

A $500,000 Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant was approved by the state Legislature for a renovation and addition project in 2002, but architectural plans have yet to get off the ground.

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First Selectman Steve Vavrek said original projections estimated the cost of the project to be $1.6 million, adding he hopes to secure more funding before the town tries to bond for it.

"It's definitely something the town should look at as one of the next capital projects," Vavrek said Wednesday.

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The first selectman wants to include the work in a five-year capital plan, modeled after the town of Newtown's.

On Thursday, Capt. Michael Flick said plans called for an addition with an emergency operations center and training room on one side of the building and a sallyport — an enclosed, secure area to bring prisoners into headquarters — on the other side, near the library.

Chief John Salvatore said the additions would comprise 5,200 square-feet. He said the department is currently 9,800 square-feet, but that an architect told them only 6,900 square-feet of that is usable space.

"Renovations would allow us to free up at least 1,000 more square-feet," Salvatore said.

However, the project had stalled and the town nearly lost the $500,000 grant on two occasions.

The chief said the grant was due to expire in 2009 before the town applied for and got a one-year extension. Then earlier this year, State Rep. DebraLee Hovey successfuly advocated for another extension lasting until 2012.

"I felt lucky that my advocacy did result in the extension," Hovey said Thursday. "The governor cut back on some of the bonding that had gone out, so I was really concerned. But I also understood that Monroe wasn't sure about what its fiscal health was."

When U.S. Rep. Jim Himes (D-4) visited the Monroe Senior Center Wednesday, Vavrek asked him to take a tour of the police station to see first-hand the poor condition it is in.

"Congressman Himes saw this with his aide," Vavrek said. "Hopefully that will spur him to help a little more. He got a nice tour."

Vavrek, who is a Republican, stressed that while he and Himes do not always see eye-to-eye on national issues, he wants to work together to upgrade police headquarters. The first selectman added that State Sen. Dan Debicella (R-21), who is running against Himes, has always been supportive of the town.

Vavrek hopes roof replacement for the entire building, which police share with Town Hall, can be included in the bonding for any project.

The tour

On Thursday morning , Flick showed the women's locker-room, which consists of three lockers in a room the size of a closet. A shower stall is to the left.

"This used to be part of the men's shower," he said. "A concrete partition was built."

Across the hall is where the other three female officers get dressed. Inside a bathroom, they have three lockers in the toilet stall, along with a wooden chair.

"They walk in from their shower and say, 'Where can I put my clothes? How about here?'" Flick said, using a sheet of paper towel to simulate an officer putting her clothes on top of one of the two sinks.

Water from the automatic faucet doused the towel. "Their clothes are soaked," Flick said.

Male officers use old Masuk High School lockers for their belongings.

Some work was done to the dispatcher's area, but only half of the room was finished.

Because the building has no sallyport, Salvatore said prisoners have to be moved over the lawn of the public building for a few feet before they are in a secured area.

Flick stood outside and motioned toward a window. "No window in this building is storm resistent," he said. "This can be smashed out."

The captain praised Public Works Dir. Arthur Baker for getting an energy efficiency grant for new windows, but said there was not enough money to buy storm resistent ones.

Flick said there is no dehumidifier in the records room, so paper documents could be damaged over time.

All throughout the building, exposed wires and piping ran along walls.

Flick walked into a room with a holding cell that resembles a chain-link fence, a bare concrete floor, and a makeshift camera and microphone set up pieced together after the old system failed and was never repaired or replaced.

"This was a 'temporary solution' four years ago," Flick said. "It's a Mayberry-style booking area."

Cabinetry and a sink from The Home Depot takes up one wall and police officers affixed wood to the sides of the counter tops themselves to round out the sharp edges.

"The desk chairs are hand-me-downs from the Board of Education," Flick said.

In another room, the bars of a jail cell were sanded and painted black as part of Drew McCauley's Eagle Scout project. Drew is the son of Police Lt. Brian McCauley.

"Bars are from the bygone days," Flick said. "They pose safety risks."

Salvatore later explained that prisoners can use the bars to harm themselves.

Two doors in the hallway by the jail cells have masking tape along the frames to keep water out when a prisoner decides to flood a toilet.

When this happens, Flick said the emergency water shutoff is not easy to access. It is behind a small door next to one of the cells.

"We have to unlock the door and find a small police officer to crawl in there to turn it off," Flick said.

Evidence lockers were donated by K-Mart. And Flick said office furniture in the dispatch area is falling apart.

Breaking the law

Aside from all of the Monroe Police Department's structural shortcomings, Flick said it does not meet state law requirements for juveniles.

"We have no facilities for juveniles," he said. "A new state law says we need a separate area for juveniles for detention and interviews."

There is no public restroom. When Town Hall is closed, Salvatore said officers have to escort citizens inside the employee-only area of the police department.

"I think this is a project the town needs to get serious about," Hovey said. "I asked the first selectman, the chief of police and the town engineer to go back to the architects of the original plan, so this could be done in phases. To see what needs to get done right away."

She also expressed her hope that the plan can be reconfigured to bring the cost down, just as the town was able to do with the Wolfe Park pool project.

"Luckily we have a very good police force that isn't pushing the issue," Vavrek said of officers' patience.

But Salvatore admitted that officers are feeling some frustration over the lack of progress.

"If we don't have a groundbreaking by 2012," he said, "I think it's a very likely outcome that we would lose this half-a-million dollars."


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