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Nogales police outline plan for Public Safety Operations Center; aim to open PSAP by spring 2026
Summary
Police leaders briefed the City Council on plans to convert the old National Guard armory into a Public Safety Operations Center, including a new 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Point, needed infrastructure upgrades, and grant-funded equipment purchases.
Police Chief Carlos Jimenez and Assistant Chief Robert Gallegos told the Nogales City Council on April 2 that the police department is developing a Public Safety Operations Center (PSOC) at the former National Guard armory on West Western Avenue and aims to finish the new Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) by spring 2026.
The PSOC project responds to what department leaders described as aging facilities and growing operational demands. “It’s a fancy name for our 9-1-1 center,” Police Chief Carlos Jimenez said, describing the PSAP as the facility that would receive emergency calls and dispatch responders.
Gallegos said the current police building, built in 1972 and still shared with several city departments, lacks adequate space and secure areas to process arrestees, interview victims, or host trainings. He highlighted Nogales’s unusual operational profile for a city of its size: a daytime floating population in the tens of thousands and millions of cross-border movements and trade that increase public-safety demands.
The department described a phased plan. Phase 1 would house the PSAP within the PSOC and make room for six call‑taking positions in roughly 1,300 square feet, with space for a dispatch supervisor, training room, evidence storage and secure interview and holding areas that would separate arrestees from the public. Gallegos said the department hopes to complete that PSAP phase by spring 2026.
Gallegos and Jimenez reviewed infrastructure needs at the armory: a nearly century‑old electrical service that must be upgraded from a single‑phase service to a 480‑volt, 3‑phase feed with a new backup generator; replacement of inoperable HVAC systems that rely on the banned R‑22 refrigerant; roof repairs; upgraded perimeter fencing and access control; and extensions of city fiber and a redundant microwave link for networking and AZ‑WINS radio interoperability.
The presentation outlined recent grant activity and equipment purchases. The department said it applied for a congressional appropriation in April 2024 for $15,477,000 (not funded) and later sought state border‑support funding. In December 2024 it reported receiving a $1,370,000 award from the Arizona Department of Public Safety border support program contingent on a city matching agreement; the match was approved earlier this year, giving the PSOC a combined $2,740,000 budget for renovation and equipment. Other line‑item grant purchases discussed included a K‑9 and vehicle, and mobile data devices for patrol units. The presentation said PSOC reimbursements will be made quarterly on receipt of invoices.
Gallegos played short radio recordings from two prior critical incidents — an officer involved shooting in 2018 and a later semitruck incident that ended in a use of force — to show the role and pressure on dispatchers. He noted statistics the department tracks: the department reported about 58,614 calls received in 2023 and said telecommunicators answered calls within 15 seconds 99.44% of the time in that year. He also said dispatch average processing time (answer, data entry and dispatch) is about 1 minute 52 seconds.
Council members asked about jurisdictional handoffs during incidents that begin in unincorporated county areas and about interagency communications. Gallegos said control of a call shifts to agencies with jurisdictional authority as situations cross boundaries and praised Arizona’s AZ‑WINS system for improving interoperability across local, state and federal partners.
The presentation emphasized personnel and staffing challenges. Gallegos said the department is authorized for 78 positions (58 sworn, 20 support) but has had significant turnover: the department reported about 72 personnel leaving over five years, which he characterized as a high attrition rate and said has hampered recruitment.
The department requested continued council support while it pursues additional funding, completes site renovations and finalizes equipment purchases.
The council did not take action on the PSOC at the April 2 meeting; the presentation was for briefing and discussion only.
