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Advisory board members urge 6-penny tax to fund consolidated Laramie Police facility
Summary
Two advisory-board members urged approval of a proposed "6-penny" tax to fund a consolidated Laramie Police Department facility, citing insufficient evidence storage, separated dispatch operations and a displaced animal shelter that they said hinder transparency and operations.
Ted Cramer, executive director of the Laramie Soup Kitchen and chair of the Laramie Police Advisory Board, and Bob Sell, CEO of Arc Regional Services and an advisory-board member, urged approval of a proposed "6-penny" tax to fund a consolidated Laramie Police Department facility.
Cramer said his advisory-board work has shown that while the Laramie Police Department is "one of the most highly trained in the region," its buildings do not match that capacity and impede transparency. "A facility that would allow the public to be a part of those conversations," he said, "a facility that would allow the public to come in... feel like they're in the secure police environment," would improve public access while preserving security.
Sell likewise praised the department's training and commitment to the community, saying, "I just am so impressed with their commitment to the citizens of our community and their ability to understand the community needs." Both speakers said the physical facilities are limiting how the department serves the public.
Speakers described specific shortcomings: an evidence room built in 2012 after a fire no longer has adequate capacity because state statutes changed and retention schedules now require holding evidence for longer periods; the current police building was built in 1980 as an office building, purchased by the city in 1998 and retrofitted before the department moved in 2000, and it was never designed as a public-safety center. Cramer said dispatch and records (LARC, Laramie and Albany County Records and Communications) operate from a location about three miles from the police facility, and the animal shelter sits roughly another 1.5 miles north in a separate structure that is slated for repurposing—conditions the speakers said create logistical and operational challenges.
Both speakers said the proposed 6-penny tax would allow the city, if the tax is approved by voters, to house dispatch, records, animal-shelter operations and the police department together in South Laramie, which they said would improve access, transparency and operational efficiency. The speakers did not provide a detailed funding timeline or vote outcome for the proposal.
No formal action or vote on the tax was recorded in these remarks; the statements were presented as public comments advocating for the funding measure.
