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Police chief urges new station and better secure access; council discusses emergency ramp, dispatch and siren upgrades
Summary
The police chief told council the current station is more than 40 years old, lacks space for modern technology and secure parking and that the city should plan for a replacement; staff also discussed an emergency ramp off I‑77 to speed responses, upgrading siren activation to 800 MHz and possible dispatch changes.
Chief Butler told council the police facility is over 40 years old and strained by modern technology and staffing needs. He said the building lacks adequate interview rooms, locker space and protected parking and that the department routinely repurposes rooms for multiple uses. “This structure cannot hold…keep up with the technological improvements that we keep trying to do,” he said.
The chief and other staff described specific technology pressures: evidence and body-camera uploads, cameras and servers, new taser systems that upload data to servers, and forward-facing vehicle cameras and GPS tracking. He said space and wiring requirements for modern devices are exceeding the building’s capacity.
Councilors and staff discussed potential paths: an architectural assessment (Prime made a prior presentation), a cost comparison between renovating the current site and building new, and the need for a full cost analysis to clarify whether renovation on the current footprint is feasible. The mayor said a firm cost summary of renovation versus a new building was not yet complete and that staff would follow up.
Public-safety access from I‑77 was raised as a separate operational priority. Police explained that an emergency ramp from the freeway to Rockside/Brecksville Road would shorten response times to incidents around the interstate and reduce the need for high-speed travel through downtown business areas. The chief said the ramp “would save precious minutes” and could improve officer and public safety.
Dispatch and siren upgrades were also discussed. Staff said the city’s current siren activations rely on a legacy 154 MHz system and a fiber path tied to an older dispatch arrangement; a planned upgrade to the 800 MHz public-safety band and centralized activation software would cost about $60,000 for the city’s eight sirens. City leaders said such an upgrade would reduce single points of failure and better align with regional dispatch systems.
No formal decisions or funding commitments were made at the workshop; the mayor and staff said they would return with cost estimates and options for council consideration.
