City councilors are receiving several emails from the community about tonight's vote on a new public safety facility. The emails are mostly in support of the plan the Mayor and Chief of Police unveiled last week. Here's a sampling of what folks are saying:

Follow up:

You all need to know that I support 110% researching and moving forward with the idea of a new police department. Having worked in the current facility from 1979 to 2005 I can only echo the sentiment that the space is cramped and not at all what our men and women in blue deserve.

For those of you who have not experienced the current facility and may be thinking this is an unnecessary expenditure, I would encourage you to take a tour of the police department as it now stands - or just stand in the hallway outside of the Chief's office where you can smell the drugs that are stored in evidence there...

If this doesn't convince you, please let me know what it might take to make the case stronger...

Thank you for your time !

Sgt. Michael Schiltz

Duluth Police - Retired

First Witness Child Advocacy Center Trainer

8/10/2009 1:13 PM

I am opposed to the Mayor's proposal to build an 18 million dollar police headquarters on the edge of town. Ths proposal is being rushed through, clearly in the hopes of heading off public debate. We had an article in the paper two weeks ago claiming that the Duluth Police Department needed a new headquarters and that this was a long standing problem that needed to be addressed.

Last Friday, the public learned that that Mayor proposes to spend 18 million dollars to build a brand new facility for the police out on the edge of town. And to raise our taxes to do it. This is after laying off City workers, closing libraries and rec centers and gutting the parks department in the name of not raising taxes.

Not acceptable.

My brother is a retired Duluth Police officer. In the twenty years he worked for the City he never once complained about conditions at headquarters. This naturally makes me skeptical about the Mayor's claims about the condition of headquarters. The conditions described in the Mayor's press release about conditions at headquarters (which posed as a front page news article) seem largely to be problems of inefficient use of space and lack of maintenance.

Building a new facility should not be considered unless it is impossible to meet the department's needs by renovating their current space. If we actually do need a new facility the police, the first location that should be considered is the old county jail. It's convenient to the courthouse, where arrestees have to be taken anyway for first appearances, has adequate parking, and would provide holding cells for the sheriff to use for inmates with court appearances.

Those inmates and arrestees could then get to court through the existing, secure tunnel. In considering the cost of renovating the old jail for use by the police, consider the savings in not having to build the curently proposed ugly, awkward, and multimillion dollar secure entrance. I am not impressed by the Mayor's argument that we will "save money in the long run" due to sharing data storage and unidentified "resources". Data storage is cheap. We'd have to store an awful lot of data for an awful long time to save 18 million dollars plus interest. Please vote against this ill-considered project. A

ny thing worth doing is worth taking the time to do it right, and the more time spent talking and planning at the beginning, the less time spent kicking yourself because you built the next incarnation of the St. Mary's parking lot or Tech Village or Great Lakes Aquarium Thank you for your time.

Deborah Hendrickson

Dear Council Member,

As a citizen of Duluth, I am concerned about the conditions in which our police force is operating. I am writing in support of the building of a new police headquarters.

Through my work with Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs, I have had the privilege of working with the fine members of the Duluth Police Department and I admire them greatly. I recognize that our officers work very hard with families affected by domestic violence. The cramped, crowded conditions of the police department are not appropriate for meeting with victims and family members during such private, painful, and emotional times. A new facility is desperately needed for this important work. 

I would also like to take this opportunity to tell you about the wonderful comments we receive about our police department from visitors from around the world who attend trainings we hold in Duluth. Quite often we hear comments about how lucky we are to have a police force that is clearly education on the dynamics of domestic violence and so responsive to the family members involved in these calls. We should all be proud and grateful for having the police force we do.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I hope you will support the building of a new police department so the men and women who protect our fine city can do the best job possible.

Sincerely,
Denise Lisdahl