GLOCESTER – Mold, dampness, heating and air conditioning deficiencies, security issues, lack of room for record keeping and even for personnel, as well as sinkholes and drainage problems in the parking lot, add up to major problems at the current Glocester Police Station at 162 Chopmist Hill Road, according to Chief Joseph DelPrete. Those problems, said DelPrete, will be alleviated when the proposed addition to the station moves forward.
Starting in the lobby, DelPrete and Capt. Matthew Fague recently did a walk through tour of the facility, pointing out the various shortcomings and concerns of the 35 year old building – of which there were many.
“We have a lot of deficiencies,” said DelPrete.
The troubles start in the lobby, a limited area where at times, suspects and the general public might be crowded together making for not only an uncomfortable situation, but a potentially dangerous one as well.
“We’ve had people in here wanting to fight and you’ve got a complainant that comes in,” explained Fague. “It’s not a safe area.”
A worst case scenario, he added, is what happened in the Bristol police station, where a drunk individual entered with a gun and started shooting. Fortunately, the walls in that station were reinforced and bulletproof. Only parts of the Glocester station walls are.
“Times have changed,” said Fague.
The solution will be two lobbies, like many other stations have, along with bulletproof walls. There will also be a separate interview room in the front. Currently, complainants, as well as criminals and everyone else, have to be led through the heart of the building, past dispatch, police offices, and locker rooms to a room in the back to be interviewed.
“Upgrading security is part of the plans,” said DelPrete.
Lack of space is one of the main concerns. DelPrete and Fague opened doors to conference rooms with boxes of supplies piled in corners, and closets being used for major technology components, such as servers, resulting in overheating problems and lack of clear access for adjustments or repairs to equipment. Other closets were makeshift evidence rooms stuffed with guns, and other paraphernalia collected from crime scenes.
The police dispatcher sits behind a bank of screens, along with numerous radios and other communications equipment. But in order to access some of it, she has to get up and move to another desk, which is both inefficient and a time cost, the chief explained. Ideally, all of the video screens and communications should be accessed from one location, but there simply isn’t enough wall space and room to do so, said DelPrete. Additionally, other surveillance video screens of regional schools are available, but can’t be utilized due to lack of space.
In one tightly confined room Holly Duffany sat in front of a computer screen working on police business. Behind her, a bank of servers was flashing as info from and to FBI, state police, and other law agencies flowed in. Next to them was a small space.
“She does multiple tasks,” Fague explained. “However, if we lock up a juvenile right now who needs to be detained, guess where the juvenile goes. Right there behind her, and she has to leave. Believe it or not, in the last six months she has had to do that on multiple occasions. This room was never designated nor designed for an office.”
The bank of IT equipment nearby was also a problem.
“It’s getting harder and harder to get outside IT people to come in and service the servers,” said Fague. “The way the room is set up, the lack of climate control, and just the way the wires are run… this is not how it is supposed to be.”
The servers, he added, run 24/7 sending and receiving info from federal and local law enforcement agencies.
Nearby, the armory, where weapons are stored, was packed into another closet. In the event of an emergency only one person could enter it at a time.
“We don’t have room to store properly what we need to store,” Fague pointed out.
The new armory would be at least double the current size, said DelPrete.
Other rooms would also increase in size, such as the processing room, allowing for more space to take photos, fingerprint and other necessary activities.
Another closet-sized room was packed with older evidence, including firearms, which could not be removed. That evidence has to be held indefinitely should other criminal investigations connect with any of it. DelPrete explained the room should be vented and climate controlled, but cannot be due to its location.
Fague ran his hand over a nearby corridor wall that showed remains of having been recently damp. It is not unusual, he said, depending on the weather conditions, for the wall to be moist.
Water problems, in fact, were abundant, not only in the main building and the nearby garage, but in the parking lot as well.
“We have sinkholes in the parking lot, water coming out of the garage,” explained DelPrete. “We have a lot of water problems.”
The parking lot showed multiple repairs as well as dips and swells, and a large open hole. At one point earlier this year, Fague recalled standing in a sinkhole that came up to his waist.
DelPrete explained that the property once had a house. When the house was razed, remains appeared to have been buried at the site, which explained the parking lot problems. With the expected renovations, the parking lot will be excavated and cleared of any buried debris.
The garage, which showed clear signs of water leakage on the first floor, houses important records in a secure area on the second floor, simply because there is nowhere else to store them. On the bottom floor a confiscated vehicle was housed. It would eventually have to be detailed due to the moisture surrounding it Fague explained. Recently, the garage had to be professionally cleaned due to mold problems.
The garage is scheduled to be torn down and a new climate-controlled one constructed further back on the property, which could house police vehicles. Currently, when it has snowed, police vehicles have to be cleaned off before they can be used, potentially causing delays during an emergency situation. Additionally, the garage houses an emergency vehicle for Glocester’s Emergency Management Department, while trailers and other equipment are stored in the Town Hall due to a lack of space. The new facility would allow for all of the equipment to be centrally located and immediately available during an emergency.
“When we need something, it should be ready to go,” said Fague.
Part of the new facility will house an area designated for the Emergency Management team.
Other concerns included the locker room and kitchen, both with little space to move or store things. DelPrete pointed out the small, “high school,” lockers which are not large enough to store uniforms and other police gear.
“When this station was built, there were four officers,” said DelPrete. “Now we have 26 employees. We have outgrown it.”
The troubles include lack of sufficient toilet and shower facilities for personnel.
The patrol room, where police officers work and meet, also includes a small desk for the law enforcement domestic violence/sexual assault advocate, which is shared with a mental health clinician. When police have to use the room, she has to find another space somewhere in the building to operate.
“We don’t have an office for her,” said Fague.
The new building will include another office for that use.
New construction will add approximately 5,400-square-feet to the current space, including 2,700-square-feet for emergency management, which is tucked into 750-square-feet now. The addition of the emergency management center will give northern Rhode Island more leverage during disasters, explained DelPrete. Currently, metropolitan districts receive aid first, but with a center representing several towns, the region can draw more attention, and, possibly, receive needed help quicker. During an emergency, the center will house emergency personnel from Foster and Burrillville, as well as Glocester.
“We will be getting bigger and better,” said Fague.
DelPrete said the referendum has been approved by both the Senate and the House and at the time, was waiting for the governor to sign it. It will then be up to voters to approve/disapprove the bond on Tuesday, August 6.
Renovations at the current station are estimated at $15,046,570. The referendum will ask for a $10,700,000 capital improvement bond. Current grants include a $490,000 COPS grant which must be allocated by the end of this year, along with a $1 million FEMA grant that has a 2.5 year limit and the recently awarded ARPA grant of $3.85 million which must be earmarked by 2026.
I’m all for 26 staff members and more times have changed as for the tickets obey the traffic rules and there won’t be any
Rent a storage unit. Problem solved.
While I’m sure they are legitimately short on space, what I see is a ton of poor space management. Buy some racks and shelving, actually organize things, clean out old junk you don’t actually use. The server room would be fine if someone actually took the time to clean it up and organize the racks. The conference room would be fine if that stuff wasn’t just haphazardly piled up everywhere. Why are there no shelves? How much of that junk piled up in the back table is actually needed?
…and secondly, WHY has the Glocester police department gone from 4 officers to 26 staff members in the past 35 years? The population of Glocester has only gone up by 10% in the same time span, yet the police force has increased by 550%!!!???? Glocester is a largely wealthy, rural community with low crime. The Glocester police department claims that there were only 5 violent crimes, and 30 property crimes in all of 2018. These crime rates have not changed a meaningful amount since 1990.
It seems like the Glocester police just primarily exist to issue tickets.