Publication Date: Wednesday, June 09, 2004
POLICE
POLICE
(June 09, 2004) Poor grades for police headquarters
Poor grades for police headquarters
(June 09, 2004) Grand jury raps substandard facility
by Bill D'Agostino
In a city where grade point averages above 4.0 are common, Palo Alto's police department recently received a "D" in a critical report of its facilities.
The report, issued by the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury, reiterates the need for the city to build a new police headquarters, a project that stalled during the down economy but has recently seen a resurgence.
The grand jury graded seven evidence rooms in Santa Clara County on a variety of issues, ranging from use of space to record keeping. Of those, Palo Alto received the second worst grades. The lowest marks went to Gilroy's department, which is currently rebuilding its facility.
"None of the ratings surprise me," Police Chief Lynne Johnson said. "This is one of the many reasons we need a new police facility."
In addition to that "D" grade (equal to "needs improvement"), Palo Alto also received a "D" for "space." The department has known for years that the downtown police headquarters lacks the legroom for all the myriad of evidence collected in crime investigations. Prosecutions are potentially threatened by the space constraints.
The critical report chastised the department for threatening the health of its employees by keeping narcotics in rooms vented through the building's main air conditioning system.
The narcotics problem is "not something we can just take a Band-aid approach to fix," Johnson said.
Since 1996, the department's leaders have tried to get funds to rebuild the police headquarters, which is more than 30 years old.
For a few years, that project stalled, failing to garner strong political or public support. Recently, though, a nonprofit foundation was formed to raise money for the department, and $75,000 was added to the city's budget for 2004-2005 for staff support for the rebuild.
"Definitely, it is gaining momentum," Johnson said.
In 2002, the entire construction project was estimated to cost $38 million to $45 million.
Last week's civil grand jury gave the Palo Alto Police Department four "C" grades (satisfactory) for physical security, record keeping, storage organization and the number of visits by senior management.
The Palo Alto police got a "B" grade (exceed minimum requirements) for "access security, and "A" grades (excellent) for "chain of custody," storage of biological evidence, storage of guns and expensive items, disposal of drugs and guns.
In the plus side, Palo Alto was the only department to get an "A" for storage of found property.
Staff writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com
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