For Redmond patrol officers, writing up a report after responding to a call may mean having to drive all the way back to the main Redmond Police Department (RPD) station.
Making the trip downtown pulls these officers out from the area they are patrolling and may delay their response time if they receive another call from that area.
One alternative would be for officers to work from inside their squad cars, which Lt. Steve Lincoln said are outfitted with mobile docking systems that allow officers to do any and all the work they need to do there. However, working in a car can get uncomfortable after some time.
Lincoln said there are also some fire stations around town where officers can go to get some work done.
Now a new partnership between RPD and a local condominium complex has provided police with a place to work in the Grass Lawn neighborhood of Redmond.
At the Sixty-01 Condominiums (6001 140th Ave. N.E.), RPD worked with the complex’s director of security services, Lawrence Whitworth, to create a substation for officers patrolling in that area. Lincoln said it is a place where they can write reports, make phone calls or just take a break.
“The work station will allow officers to stay in their patrol area while writing reports or conducting follow-up on cases rather than returning to the station,” said Redmond Police Chief Ron Gibson. “It provides them with a safe place to conduct their work and allows the officers more opportunities to interact with the residents.”
He added that keeping the officers near their normal patrol areas will help police maintain their response times to calls for service.
The office space is part of the Sixty-01 guardhouse, located at the complex’s main entrance.
Lincoln said the staff at the complex added a desk, which is reserved for officers, though the security staff can use it if it is unoccupied. The space also features a mobile docking station for the officers’ computers and Lincoln said they have also installed their own phone and Internet systems separate from Sixty-01’s. There is also a restroom near the guardhouse. Cameras were installed around the building and Sixty-01 has also provided a parking spot for a squad car. Lincoln said the latter may not seem like a big deal, but the police found it very accommodating.
“It just turned into this really cool work space,” he said, adding that the substation provides officers with a safe place to work or just sit down.
Whitworth added that the renovations to the guardhouse were paid for by Sixty-01.
One of the things RPD stresses, is community policing, meaning an emphasis on officers being out in the community, meeting with people.
“(The new substation) keeps our officers out in the field,” Lincoln said, as opposed to behind a desk at the main station.
Whitworth is a former military police officer who worked in Anchorage, Alaska and understands the importance of building community.
“That’s important,” he said. “To know your community’s police department cares.”
For Sixty-01, Whitworth said property management was looking at new ways to better communicate with the police department. He said he had an idea to partner with RPD, but wasn’t sure how. It wasn’t until an officer responded to a call at the complex a few months ago and he got to talking with them that they came up with the idea for a police substation.
On the RPD side of the partnership, Lincoln said they were looking at where there are no stations nearby — the west side of Redmond. He credits patrol officers Craig Shanks and Laura Murphy to spearheading the project.
“These were patrol officers with an idea,” he said.
Gibson added, “This is a great example of two patrol officers taking the initiative to partner with our residents to be more visible in the community.”
