Ellettsville Police Station gets new facility

Since Valentine's Day, the Ellettsville Police Department has been policing the town it serves from a new, $1.5 million headquarters situated on State Road 46, west of town. The 22-man department will celebrate the end ofconstruction with a dedication ceremony and open house Saturday at 1 p.m.\nAs Chief Deputy Marshall Jay Humphrey directs a tour of the 9,000 square foot facility built in the shape of a square, he does so with a smile brighter than Times Square on New Year's Eve. And he has good reason. \nThe first location occupied 900 square feet of the old fire station and was plagued with a series of floods. The most recent one three years ago stole everything the department had, from chairs to computers. Ellettsville Marshall Ron McGlocklin even said there were substantial health concerns since the flood created a sewer back-up forcing officers to fill out reports while they walked around in solid waste.\nAt the time, McGlocklin said the Town Council took action partly because it didn't want its police force to work in those kinds of conditions, but also because of the growth within the 20 square miles of a chopped up jurisdiction EPD is charged with patrolling.\n"Some people may ask what's the big deal with a new police station?," Humphrey said. "Well, this is a small community, it's a big deal here."\nThe station boasts a number of features it didn't have before. There's a new dispatch center that will eventually be able to work as a back-up to Monroe County Central Dispatch. Secure interview rooms make it possible for officers to work more efficiently on station without having to drive to the Monroe County Jail to interview suspects, or take statements from the public. A new Breathalyzer room allows the department to video tape and get a breath alcohol reading on their own so they, again, don't have to drive into Bloomington and use someone else's. Another major improvement comes in the form of a squad room giving each officer his own computerized work station, and an enhanced training room allows all department meetings to be held at the station.\nRussell Harris, one of the department's eight full-time officers and a training officer as well, spoke of the improvements because of construction.\n"It's going to make it easier because of what we have at this facility as compared to the old one," Harris said. "It's not like in the old place where people sat people down between the microwave and coffee pot to interview them … We don't have to go to the Odd Fellows Lodge or the library like we used to to conduct training seminars."\nBut making the department's clerical and administrative work more efficient isn't the thing Humphrey smiles the most about. It's little stuff that most people would take for granted.\nThanks to the construction, Humphrey and the other full-time, part-time, and reserve officers have a state-of-the-art locker room to shower and change clothes in. There's an actual restroom for both men and women so now neither they nor the public have to use the filthy port-a-pot like they previously did at the construction trailer. \nMarlene Moody is a floral designer at Unique Flower and Gift Shoppe on Sale Street in downtown Ellettsville. Moody knew about the sordid history the department had when it came to working facilities.\n"It should have been done long before now … It's definitely something that needed to be done," she said.\nBut not everyone seems to share their sentiments.\n"If you're going to spend that kind of money, you need to build for the future, not just the present," said former Town Council member David Drake, who was on the council when the project was approved. \nDrake said he thought the building was bigger than was currently needed, but suggested that Ellettsville is growing and that if you're going to build a building that's supposed to last for 20 or 30 years, then you need to build one keeping that in mind.\nBut overall, Marshall McGlocklin said he thinks the community has been very supportive of the facility.\n"I haven't heard one negative comment," said McGlocklin. "John Q. Public gives us a pat on the back"