Buildings Bear Witness To Changing Times and More Varied Needs
By Paul Meyer, The Dallas Morning News
In years past, even an innocuous trip to the police station could arouse a sense of dread.
Outside, a featureless crime-fighting fortress confronted visitors. Inside, yellow lights buzzed like insect traps where criminals, victims, and police met in shared space.
“It gave the impression they were protecting themselves from you,” says David Wilson, a Phoenix-based architect who is at the lead of the next generation of police headquarters.
“They were hardened. ... They weren’t community-friendly.”
These days, police stations are getting a makeover in North Texas and across the nation as architects and law enforcement collaborate to soften public perceptions under the mantra of community policing.
New police headquarters have opened or are under design in Dallas, Garland, Frisco, Southlake, McKinney and Waco, among other cities.
In Dallas, where police moved into their new digs more than a year ago, some have already noted a difference in perception, in addition to improved crime-fighting ability.
“I worked in that old building for years and years and years, and I don’t remember anybody who ever asked to use it for community events,” said Ron Waldrop, acting assistant chief involved in the building project. “We’ve had several already here.”
Gone is the austere, featureless facade, replaced with color, glass, spacious lobbies, interior courtyards and soft edges. In Scottsdale, Ariz., a koi pond calms angst-ridden victims and visitors.
Gone also in many cases are the bulletproof glass cubes from which records clerks once greeted visitors.
“There has been a lot of discussion among chiefs of police about wanting to have this friendliness,” said San Francisco architect Beverly Prior, an adviser who serves on the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on Architecture for Justice.
“If you ask the staff behind the records desk, they’d still like to have the bulletproof glass. Often it’s the chief saying ‘No, we’re not going to have that.’ ”
Instead, visitors find information desks, community rooms, separate spaces for youth services and separate entrances for the good - and bad - guys.
Security features have been built in without looking oppressive. Kevlar, a bulletproof material, is often installed behind exterior walls. Windows, more numerous than in the past, are raised to prevent a clear shot at anybody inside. Stairs or other obstacles prevent cars from having a clear path to the building, and firewalls partition off the public from crime-sensitive areas.
“You’re sending a message to the community that ‘We’re your police department,’ that ‘We work for you.’ The fortress thing doesn’t work,” said John Firman, director of research for the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
“Our biggest problem historically has been that the buildings were old, out of date and poorly designed. Sadly, even newer [versions] of 1960s and 1970s didn’t do much better.”
Mr. Firman helped to establish new guidelines in 2002 to help architects and police chiefs in planning new facilities.
In Whittier, Calif., and Tucson, Ariz., new police facilities were planned in concert with libraries. The new Central Police Services Building in Buffalo, N.Y., was planned in conjunction with a new community college.
In Oakland, Calif., where police once bore the ignominious nickname “blue meanies,” a $13 million facility opened last year to foster interaction with residents.
“Architecture makes a huge difference in how people interrelate with it,” Ms. Prior said. “Victims might be weeping, and the old style was that somebody had to give their report standing in a lobby with other people around. Now buildings are starting to put small meeting rooms where victims can ... talk in private.”
Architect Clark Key of Dallas says the architecture can be a factor in a department’s ability to retain officers. Mr. Key was the architect of record for the Garland police headquarters, which opened in November. Mr. Key is now working with Frisco and McKinney on their new facilities.
McKinney is in the planning stages and could open a facility in 2006. Frisco expects to move in by fall 2005.
In Allen, police Capt. Robert Flores says he’s noticed a change in officers’ morale after that city’s headquarters was remodeled in 2002.
“It gives you pride in what you do,” Capt. Flores said. “Officers are proud of their work area and proud of their building.”