Police and court deserve support | LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Published 11:39 am Sunday, October 18, 2015

To the editor:

Please vote yes for Proposition No. 1/Public Safety Facility Bonds.

The current police facility was built in 1945 as a fire station and has served none of its tenants — fire, city hall, police — well.

It was intended that the police and judicial entities be housed in the new city hall, but space constraints prevailed. We have never had an emergency operations center, relying instead on borrowed space.

“Building and equipment in shambles and/or inadequate” and “Immediately begin planning for relocating the police department to be either within or very near city hall” are contained in the August 2013 “An Organizational Assessment and Development Report” (Pendleton Report). From talks with the Bainbridge Island Police Department, two serious deficiencies are an inadequate evidence locker and lack of an armory for weapons storage.

Bringing the municipal court into this facility reduces the burden on both the court and police, while providing adequate facilities for court administration and security for the first time ever.

Establishing and running an emergency operations center is the responsibility of the city government, yet city hall lacks the required hardening, power and communications. Housing the center in this facility adjacent to city hall meets that need.

We depend on the police and the court for our safety and the administration of justice. It is beyond time to show them the respect and support they deserve.

City officials have been wrongly criticized for providing history and rationale in weekly reports. We wouldn’t know the complete story otherwise.

VARON MULLIS

Bainbridge Island