Title
Feasibility Study for Potential Criminal Justice Center Headquarters in Northern Range
Body
Purpose
In early 2022, City Council directed staff to begin the process of exploring an expansion of our current criminal justice facilities to include a new facility - either a central police headquarters or substations - in the Northern Range to help improve response times. Following that direction, staff began the process of contracting for a feasibility study to begin to understand the needs, scope, scale, and estimated costs for a potential facility. In this presentation tonight, staff and the City’s architectural consultants HOK will report on the findings of that study. Immediately following the presentations by staff and HOK and any Council questions, comments, or concerns about the findings, Council will adjourn to executive session with staff and HOK for Council to give direction about the acquisition of real property for this facility.
Background and Need
Commerce City has seen unprecedented growth on the Northern Range of the City. With this growth comes increased pressures on City services, particularly for public safety and the Commerce City Police Department (CCPD). Currently, nearly all of the Police Department’s sworn staff utilize the Civic Center as a headquarters with limited numbers of officers using a small substation in Reunion to cover the Northern Range. Because of this distribution, CCPD has previously expressed concern over their ability to quickly and effectively respond to service calls in the Northern Range.
CCPD is currently allocated around 160 full-time sworn staff. With growth projections expecting the City to hit near 100,000 residents by the end of the decade, CCPD estimates staff needs to nearly double to more than 300 sworn staff in that timeframe. CCPD staff have expressed concern that the existing space they occupy within the Civic Center is not large enough to safely and comfortably accommodate their existing staf...
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