City moves toward new east-side police station

Looking ahead toward a new police station in east Wichita, the Wichita City Council on Tuesday approved $160,000 to remodel part of the station and study what will be needed in a new facility.

The east station was designed as a substation for 30 to 40 officers, but “100 to 130 work out of there now,” said Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay.

The east station is the smallest one in the police department, with 4,500 square feet of space, at 350 S. Edgemoor.

The station has no interview rooms, no space for specialists to work with people who have mental illnesses and “only a fraction of the officers have lockers,” Ramsay said.

The approved plan will immediately spend $35,000 on remodeling the lobby area to create a secure space where the public can come in to do business with police – a requirement to comply with federal law, Ramsay said.

The remaining $125,000 will be used to study facility needs before the city spends about $2.35 million on building a new station.

When a new station is built, the old one will be used as office space for community policing officers, who are currently housed in rented private commercial space, according to the city staff report.

The east station was built in 1989.

Long term, all the outlying stations will need expansion or replacement, Ramsay said.

“They’re not substations anymore, these are working police stations,” Ramsay said.

This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 11:19 AM with the headline "City moves toward new east-side police station."