The new addition to the Redding Police Department building was created to serve 3 functions: Prisoner holding and Processing, Locker Room Space and a Break room for the staff. The entire project was paid for with grants and not one Redding Taxpayer dollar was used. Chief Douglas Fuchs and Steve Schnell, Communications Supervisor worked diligently to bring these funds to Redding.
Originaly, the plan was to erect a new state of the art building across Route 107. But, with the slump in the economy, it was decided to renovate the existing building, saving millions of taxpayer dollars. After careful consideration and budgeting, the Police dept built what they could with the funds from the grants.
Several years ago, Redding PD received a COPS grant (www.cops.dol.com) of $800,000. This is a Federal grant given by the Dept of Justice. They went from a single site transmittor to a simulcast system. Signals are coordinated by GPS to simultaneously transmit in a microsecond from 3 towers: one at the Police station, one on Old Redding Road and the other on Redding Ridge. During the two storms we had in 2011, 2 of the towers lost power but our officers were still able to communicate with each other because the tower at the police station remained working. there is a backup radio system if all three towers ever go out at the same time.
The Equipment Room is found in the basement of the police station. Racks of equipment range from radios, servers and video. Cameras make every part of the building inside or out visible.
The new addition houses the Prisoner and Processing areas as well as the locker rooms. The corrider is secure and no one can get in or out without a card key or being buzzed in or out. The processing area holds a cage for temporary holding of a prisoner and equipment to process the prosoner or fingerprint those in need of that service. All equipment was already owned byt the police department. Previously, the prisoner area was in the main building. A prisoner had to be brought in past the public areas and with handcuffs on, it was hard for the prisoner to navigate the stairs.
Next door to the processing area is a secure room that holds 2 cells. That way male and female prisoners can be held overnight withough being in sight or sound of each other. Each cell is equipped with a mattress, sink and toilet. A paper blanket is provided. There is a shower accessible right outside the cells. Three meals a day are provided and are purchased from Burger King.
Right outside the locker rooms is an exercise room with equipment generously donated by a Redding resident. The woman's locker room has 4 lockers and the men's have 18. The lockers are standard police lockers with a place to lock up weapons and charging stations for the radios.
These areas were made possible by 2 grants. One was a STEAP grant (Small Town Economic Assistance Program)
The areas that were used for these purposes previously were repurposed into the Break room, and new officers for the Chief and Lt O'Donnell. For the cost of sheetrock and paint (a soothing blue) the area looks brand new. Items like a soundproofing panel were reused from the Community Center. The project was kept within its budget and did not go one dollar over the funds from the grants.
For Officer McManus' photos of the project, click here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73970823@N03/sets/