Police Department
Dear Editor: I am writing you this letter to provide you with vital information about the Police Department building and to request your urgent attention and assistance in understanding the need for a new building. The City of Sitka can NOT afford not to provide the police with a new building.
The police already are working with 12 officers instead of 17 that is required for this size community. In addition to this affront to these brave people let’s take a closer look at their physical environment.
The Sitka Police Department plays a critical, vital role in the social, legal, and safety infrastructure for the City of Sitka. They work in a unsafe environment and the prisoners are held in an unhealthy atmosphere. The Sitka Police Department building is a biological, chemical, and physical hazard to the city employees that work there and the inmates that stay in the jail.
Some of reasons a new police department is necessary:
The inability to regulate the temperature. It is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. It will take millions of dollars to renovate the building to fix these problems.
It is important to not put millions of dollars into this building, because it will only fix one of the multiple problems with their work space.
There is no appropriate place to process evidence. It needs to be processed in a well-ventilated area with room to place syringes, to handle bloody items, and just to process all the evidence in a space that is NOT a hallway or break room. At this time they are being processed in the break room, which is also a hallway, and there is not enough space. This creates a biological and chemical hazard.
Another chemical hazard is the cleaning of guns. The police officers must train with three or four different guns and they clean them in an unventilated room without a window. If they open the door to the room the police officers doing reports are fumigated. There should be a ventilation system in the gun-cleaning room.
Another physical, safety hazard is that there is no area to drive into with an arrested individual, shut and lock down the area and remove them from the car. This area would also be a great exercise room for inmates.
There is no locker room with a shower. Police officers need to be able to change their uniforms for many reasons and at times may need to shower after an arrest or call.
It is not a well kept-up building to make the employees feel cared about. There are different colors of paint on the walls. The ceiling tiles are discolored and broken. It is crowded with boxes and not enough storage place. Pipe insulation is cracked and opened.
The employees had to paint the dispatch room themselves.
There are not enough desks. The desk area is a hallway and the desks are too small. How does one concentrate in a hallway?
Employees leave because of the environment and the cost of retraining is substantial. If there was a building that made them feel worthwhile there would not be as much turnover.
The prison area has no windows. Long-term prisoners have a dismal existence. As mentioned above, there is no place to walk around, an apron-type area would provide. No place to look outside. The cells are decrepit.
The City of Sitka cannot afford not to have a new police department building. Marijuana and alcohol taxes should go to the new police department building. I realize the bed tax will have to change, but we cannot afford not to change it. There are so many problems and needs in the department. Please excuse me for missing them, but there is no excuse not to be on board to provide these loyal employees with a decent work place.
I have not mentioned many other dangerous situations that exist at the police department building. I encourage you to call the police department to request a tour.
Lorraine Inez Lil, Sitka
