‘Taped together,’ Newton Police Department needs more space

The Newton Police Department has run out of room, Chief Eric Murphy said, sitting at his taped-together desk.

“We need to be able to expand,” he said. “Our evidence is overflowing.”

He was speaking literally about crime scene evidence, figuratively about the dilemma the department is in.

The building smells like mold, the carpet is held together with packing tape, and when it snows, it accumulates inside the building, Murphy said.

“It’s basically taped together,” said Newton Mayor Glen Davis.

The Newton Police Department has authorization to staff 34 sworn personnel, Murphy said. The department currently shares space with the Harvey County Sheriff’s Office and the 911 county emergency management and communication services.

The building is owned by Harvey County, so Murphy said the department is “at the county’s mercy” when it comes to maintaining the building.

The department has been advocating for new digs since at least 2010, city officials said. In late April, the Newton City Commission voted to purchase land in downtown Newton for the construction of a police facility.

The property, purchased for $475,000 – $25,000 below appraisal value – formerly was the site of a Dillons grocery store. It sits across the tracks from the Newton Amtrak station.

Currently, a Dollar General store and Anytime Fitness, a 24-hour gym, occupy space in the old Dillons building.

Newton city commissioner David Nygaard said the city will honor the two establishments’ pre-existing leases, though the city does plan to demolish the building and construct new.

“We’re not going to disrupt their business,” Nygaard said.

The city of Newton has hired Wichita-based WDM Architects to design the new police facility at 320 N. Main. The architects’ fees are not to exceed $369,000 plus reimbursable items, according to the city’s Public Information Office.

Nygaard said he hopes the architects will design the police building to match the “Shakespearean” architectural design of the Amtrak station.

“It’s kind of an eyesore there on Main Street,” Davis said. “(Building new) will improve the looks of downtown.”

Murphy, the police chief, said the new facility will allow the department to “plan for the future, so that 20 years from now we won’t be in this same situation.”

Davis agreed, saying it would boost morale of the thin-stretched Newton Police Department.

“I know it’s going to improve the morale of the police department, because the police officers are sitting right on top of each other when they do reports,” he said. “Space is a big concern.”

Some community leaders in Newton have said a new police department building should be located in the city’s Military Park and that Newton should install a public library at 320 N. Main. Davis said that is “just talk.”

“We’re spending money on an architect now to draw up plans and I feel like ... if they’re drawing up plans to fit one specific location, then we’re going to be out that money that we’re paying that architect to do that,” Davis said.

The city estimates the total cost of construction for the new facility to be in the $6 million range, and it will not be breaking ground on the facility for at least another year and a half to two years, Nygaard said. The city has to figure out how to pay for it first, he said.

This story was originally published July 12, 2015 at 11:44 AM with the headline "‘Taped together,’ Newton Police Department needs more space."