Police station moves to Clinton Street

The town's men in blue moved less than a mile away this week into the new Springfield police station on Clinton Street.

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Springfield police station moves to Clinton Street
By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff - Published: February 2, 2008

SPRINGFIELD — The town's men in blue moved less than a mile away this week into the new Springfield police station on Clinton Street.

The move, accomplished over several days, was official on Wednesday, when the department became operational at its new location, said Police Chief Douglas Johnston, ending about 30 years on Main Street.

The key was completing the move of the department's communications system to the Clinton Street location, Johnston said.

He said the final hookup was completed around 3 p.m., when dispatchers started receiving calls and communicating with the officers out in the field.

Dispatcher Wendy Perkins sat at the dispatcher's console, with screens showing various angles of the exterior of the building. The dispatcher room is painted a special shade of green to make it easier for the dispatchers to read their computer screens, the chief said.

Dressed in street clothes, Johnston and other members of the department carried in computers, printers, filing cabinets and other furniture and equipment. The department, with help from the Springfield Public Works Department, completed the move.

Inside, the new police department — the former Lucas Industries building — was far from settled in. Plastic covered new carpeting in virtually every room, and new furniture and shelving was still missing. The outside of the building needs to be painted, and there have been some recent leaks in the roof, which resulted in some damage to the new department's exercise roof.

The new station will probably need a new roof in the next couple of years, Johnston said.

Johnston's new office, painted a sunny yellow, is on the second floor of the building. It was minus a desk, among other things. The town had ordered a new desk for both the chief and Lt. Mark Fountain, but they hadn't come in yet.

Johnston used a desk belonging to his father in the old station, which was on the first floor of the Springfield Town Hall on Main Street. Johnston's new office overlooks Clinton Street, looking north toward the neighboring gas station and the former Jones & Lamson Machine Co. building.

On the ground floor is the dispatch center and the rooms for the patrol officers, including a locker room and showering facilities — a first for the department.

The police department had been in the town hall for about 30 years. Voters in 2006 approved about $2 million toward the purchase of the Lucas building and its renovation as a solution to a longstanding problem: A cramped police department that was out of space.

The station has grown from about 1,200 square feet to about 9,000 square feet, Johnston said.

"How the heck did we fit all the stuff in? We stacked it vertically," he said. "We have plenty of room here and we have room to expand in the back."

A study committee in 2006 had originally proposed building a new station next to the fire station on Hartness Avenue, but the price tag — close to $4 million — was too high and the Springfield Select Board rejected the suggestion immediately.

A few months later, Lucas Industries contacted Johnston with news that it needed to move and find more space for its expanding business, asking if the town were interested.

The building had housed the technical center for Jones & Lamson Machine Co. for many years, Johnston said. It started life as Shattuck's Garage. GoGoGas is next door to the station, with the former Bryant Grinder Corp. to its south.

The chief showed off the new station, showing a new sally-port for prisoners, new holding cells, including one that is handicapped accessible, and a special interview room for juveniles. There is an evidence room and a special pass-thru evidence cabinet for depositing items during the weekend.

Upstairs are offices for Johnston, Fountain, the department's two detectives, Jody Small and Pat Call, as well as the department's administrative assistant, David Glidden. All of the offices were various states of settling in and disorganization.

"The biggest luxury? Space," the chief said.

Johnston said it would be spring before the department holds an open house for townspeople. "Sometime after mud season," Johnston said. http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008802020374