A University of California Board of Regents committee approved over $20 million to build university police a new station Tuesday. The department has faced problems of overcrowding for years.
The current station ““ located just south of Ackerman turnaround ““ is not equipped with an elevator, has one holding cell converted from a closet, and has one small conference room and an interview room that also stores files and other equipment.
The station was built in 1958, and without any upgrades since its original construction, it has not been able to grow and adapt to the changing needs of the police force, said Jeff Young, the assistant chief of police.
“We’re in extremely confined spaces now,” Young said. “We’ll better serve the public having a building that is bigger and more accessible.”
Steve Olsen, the vice chancellor for finance, budget and capital programs, said construction should begin in early 2008 and should be complete around November of 2009.
He added that the current station will be demolished and the new one will be built in its place, with the department moving to the Kinross Building in Westwood for the duration of the construction. He also said the station is one of the last buildings on campus that does not comply with UC seismic standards.
Plans for the new station indicate there will be about 5,600 usable square feet of space added, an increase from the current 9,261, according to the regents meeting agenda.
In addition to lack of space, the current UCLA police station also has a UC seismic rating of “poor” and is not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act because it does not have an elevator, said Nancy Greenstein, director of police community services.
Because the station is considered an “essential services” building ““ meaning it must stay operational during an event such as an earthquake ““ it has much higher seismic standards for construction, Olsen said.
The building will also include a fire wall because it is adjacent to the UCLA power plant, as well as bullet-proof glazed windows, among other things, he said during the regents meeting.
The new building will also offer a host of amenities such as locker rooms and shower facilities, a rudimentary lab for better evidence processing, several more holding cells that are more easily secured, and additional storage space, Olsen said.
Sergeant Robert Defrancesco said the station has so little space they had to buy several industrial shipping containers to store their bicycles and motorcycles when they are not in use.
Defrancesco also said the interview room is used as storage for other equipment and files, and many of their records have to be kept in storage because there is no room for them in the station.
“We make it work,” he said. “Before this building the police had a couple of bungalows.”
Plans for the new building have not yet been finalized, and there should be a preliminary sketch available as soon as July, Olsen said.
The building will be two stories high and occupy the same space as the current station, Olsen said. It will also offer improved facilities for emergency medical response, emergency communications, and an improved parking lot for patrol vehicles, according to the regents meeting agenda.
“There is real limited space on the south side of the building and (the parking lot) is exposed to the public,” Young said. “(A covered lot) would be more secure for the police vehicles.”