Bond Committee LEPD Powerpoint (Building Justification) 11-17-2008

Existing Conditions 2003 Town Hall was built and included 4,300 square feet for the Police Department  2003 - 14 full-time officers and 1-civilian position  2008 - 33 officers and 3 c

Little Elm Police Department

New Police Facility

Existing Conditions

 2003 Town Hall was built and included 4,300 square feet for the Police Department

 2003 - 14 full-time officers and 1-civilian position

 2008 - 33 officers and 3 civilian positions (140% increase)

 8 patrol supervisors 4-Sgts/4-Cpls) share 2-desks

 Supervisor’s office is used for roll call and interviewing

 Lieutenant shares an office designated as a juvenile holding

office

 Juvenile arrests/interviews-Lieutenant has to leave his office

 Community Services/Training Sergeant uses the break room for his office

 Space is so inadequate: interviews with victims, witnesses, and suspects some employees are asked to give up their office (s) so that the interview can be more private and confidential

Existing Conditions Cont

 The building is not secured nor is it designed to protect the identity

of a victims, witnesses, juveniles, or suspects

 Existing conditions do not provide an environment for practical

police operations and services necessary to perform various

functions

 Office space-inefficient workflow layout

 No sally port to securely transport prisoners from vehicles to

building

 No room to conduct applicant/recruit interviews

 One restroom for employees and guests

 Paper thin walls separate PD/other offices-Disruptive

 Property Room overcrowded

 Holding Cage – Band-Aid

Immediate & Future Needs

 More space is required to meet existing needs

 Criminal Investigators

 Community Service Division

 Administrative Secretary

 Records Clerk

 Office Clerk

 Sally Port to secure prisoner/officer safety & park motorcycles

 Jail to safely book prisoners and separate juveniles

 Additional supervisor offices

 Adequate office space for police to write reports

 Training/Community/EOC Room

 Interview/interrogation room

 Property/evidence room expansion

 Future Dispatch/911 Center

Why A New Building Design?

 School

 Hospital

 Prison

 Court House

 Bank Building

 What do each of these have in common?

 Strategically designed for a specific work environment for employees to perform job specific duties while maintaining security and safety practices

How big would the new facility be?

 There is no true standard formula for translating local

conditions and trends in law enforcement design into the necessary square footage for a specific police facility

 International Association of Chiefs of Police performed a three year project to develop standards for police

facilities and recommends 349 square foot per number

of employees

IACP Recommendation

 Today: Facility should be 12,564 square feet to

accommodate our existing staff compared to the 4,300

we currently have; a difference of 8,264 square feet

 Based on Little Elm’s projected growth by 2012

 LE should have a 19% increase or 4,403 new citizens

 Requires an increase between 4 to 6 new police officers

 2012 Facility should be 14,300 square feet

Aren’t police officers supposed to be

out on the streets?

 Yes, the majority of patrol officers work outside the

building

 Building houses numerous personnel besides officers

 Criminal Investigators

 Community Service Division

 Administrative Secretary

 Records Clerk

 Office Clerk

 Command Staff (Chief, Assistant Chief, & Lieutenant)

 Multiple officers working on arrests/reports

 Jail Operations

 Animal Control employees and visitors

 Daily visitors (complainants, victims, witnesses, suspects, tours)

How will a new facility improve service to the community?

 Provide 24/7 access to citizens

 Interview rooms

 Privacy of victims and witnesses; Texas Law requires juveniles to

be kept from an adult suspects view (Real challenge)

 Sometimes victims of crimes feel victimized a second time when

they can not enter the building without other people (both employees and members of the public) seeing and hearing them.

 Training/Community Room: In-house and shared training,

Neighborhood meetings, Citizens police academy, Explorer

programs, special forums, education programs and special

needs upon request

 Jail to house Class C Misdemeanor offenders and high risk

suspects, i.e., sex offenders, robbery suspects, violent suspects (safety/escape issue)

 Less fuel usage, less time officers are outside the Town

 Boost employee recruiting

Options for existing facilities

 Buildings used by public safety agencies must meet stringent

structural requirements

 Existing buildings would likely need retrofitting to comply with the

“essential services” security standards, and those costs could be significant

 Police Facilities have unique needs not generally reflected in the original design of average office buildings

 Secured storage for evidence and weapons

 Prisoner jail/holding/booking cells

 Suspect interview room (secure, video surveillance)

 Complex communication equipment

 Areas for investigation work and process evidence

 The engineering of our existing building makes it infeasible to remodel the facility to meet the Police Department's needs The structure was designed and built for normal day to day business dealings suitable for easy

customer/public access

The Blues News

police chief

charges were filed last month against a 35 -year-old man police said broke into May-pearl City Hall and tried to shoot the

town's police chief with his own gun.

New Facility Location

 Facility location is not critical in terms of delivering

efficient police services, although there are community benefits to having the facility visible and easily

accessible

 Example: building close to the Fire Department, Library

or Town Hall which adds to the community's comfort level for such things as evening meetings

 Currently, there are three locations to consider;

 a lot behind Town Hall

 a lot in front of Town Hall,

 and a lot off of Main Street

 No additional cost for land

New Building Cost

 2008 average cost per square foot is $341.10

 14,300 square feet = $4,877,730

 2008 median cost per square foot is $345.94

 14,300 square feet = $4,946,942

 Difference of $69,212.00

 2008 construction cost to build is $4,946,942

 2009 at a 21% increase is $6,000,000

Annual Operating and Maintenance Cost

 Most businesses operate on a five (5) day work

schedule and have holiday closures

 Police departments operate on a 365 day schedule regardless

 It is estimated at a rate of $5.60 (square foot) times 14,300 square feet that the annual O&M cost for a new police facility is estimated at $80,000

Town

Bldg.

Size