ARLINGTON – Evidence is crammed into two old jail cells, and a small space to dust for fingerprints is tucked into a third.
Detectives and patrol officers work in a portable office out back. Equipment is piled in every spare corner, and there’s barely enough room to open the door to the police locker room. There’s one bathroom for 26 employees.
Welcome to the Arlington Police Department.
The 1,900-square-foot police station at Arlington City Hall was built for eight officers. It’s now used by 22 officers, who hope the city will break ground on a new 18,000-square-foot station in June.
Arlington City Council members are expected to approve the sale of bonds in January to pay for the $8.35 million station, said city development services director Iain Draper, project manager for the new station.
"We’re just months away from making this project a reality," he said.
That’s a relief for officers, who have the floor plan for the new two-story station tacked up on the wall.
"You could fit our entire police department in the detention and evidence area," Police Chief John Gray said of the new station. "All those basic things we need, interview rooms, space for evidence, it’s all there."
The new station will be built behind City Hall and include a conference room that will be used for city council meetings.
It also will have three holding cells where suspects can be kept for four to six hours before being taken to the Snohomish County Jail. The evidence room will have a ventilation system to allow the storage of drugs.
"When we bring in rotting marijuana now in 45 minutes the whole place stinks of it. This filters that out," Gray said.
The new station adds a generator for backup power, a briefing room and locker rooms for male and female officers.
It also includes several interview rooms, which will give distraught crime victims private space, Gray said.
"We get about 30 people a day coming in, and many are upset. There’s no place for them here. That’s not the way we should treat people," said the chief, adding he sometimes offers his small office to them.
The new station should last the department 30 years, Gray said. By that time, the department is expected to have 45 officers.
The city will add three more next year, for a total of 25. This year, police have responded to more than 17,000 incidents and expect that number to grow as Arlington’s population increases, Gray said.
While the new station is being built, police will move to a temporary office at the geographical center of the Arlington area, on 63rd Avenue NE east of the airport. Officers still will provide plenty of coverage in downtown Arlington during that time, Gray said. Police expect to be in the temporary office up to two years.
The new police station could be finished as early as the end of 2005, Draper said.
"We’re a growing department, and we need the space," Gray said. "This is something we’re very excited about."
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
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