It has been asked, “Why don’t we just stay in the old building?” Here are some answers: 1. It’s in a flood plain. The river may not ever get there, but water still gets into the basement when it rains or the sewer backs up, which happen fairly regularly. The police department, which is in the basement, intentionally is careful not to put important things on the floor because they’ve had water in their offices so many times. Water runs down the walls of some offices when it rains. The only place to put the city’s new, expensive K-9 in the current building is in the same closet as the sewer drain, which backflows at times. 2. The people who work in that building are barely getting by now – there is no more space to put anything and the records, cases and evidence just keep coming. The county will probably have to pay for more storage (there already are records stored at the salt mines in Hutchinson). 3. The current jail is unsafe and poses security problems. If an inmate can get past a jailer, there is only one door between that inmate and freedom. The new jail will use double locking door systems that ensure inmates are securely in custody at all times. Plus it will have a separate, secure, enclosed entry to transport inmates to and from the jail. In the current LEC, prisoners are brought in through the public lobby and past offices and the kitchen before reaching the booking area. 4. New technology is coming that 911 will have to use. There’s nowhere to put it in the current building. Keeping up with technology is not an option in law enforcement. Kingman County must be able to work with and communicate with neighboring counties such as Sedgwick and Reno that are larger and have better equipment. 5. The demand for law enforcement services is increasing. The reality is that people use law enforcement to settle arguments that neighbors used to settle themselves. In addition to emergency calls, law enforcement picks up stray dogs (there is no dedicated animal officer), they stand by during volatile family situations, they perform time-consuming VIN inspections, and they work with the schools to conduct drug education and other programs. -From mid-Sept. 2012 to mid-Sept. 2013, the Kingman police received 6,241 calls for service. -From Aug. 1, 2012 to July 31, 2013, 911 answered 24,429 calls. 6. Of course the building has infrastructure over 50 years old. The building was not designed for computer usage, and the heating and air conditioning is old and inefficient.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 01:12:29 +0000
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