By Art Marroquin
The Daily Breeze
LOS ANGELES — The growing Port of Los Angeles police force will move into a new three-story, 51,000-square-
foot headquarters building in 2011, under the terms of a $47million contract approved Thursday by the Board of Harbor Commissioners.
Irvine-based FTR International will build the new Centre Street facility, which will be equipped with new surveillance and dispatch centers, an underground parking lot and a rooftop tactical training area that can double as a firing range.
“We’ve waited a long time for this,” port police Capt. Ralph Tracy told the commission.
For now, the port’s 142 police officers and 84 civilian employees work in cramped quarters designed to hold only 30 officers, Tracy said.
Port officials hope to expand the police force to 212 sworn officers and 161 civilian employees by mid-2009 as part of an aggressive recruitment campaign.
“This new headquarters will provide us a much-needed home for all of our functions and our ability to house the majority of our officers in one location, and not in the cramped conditions we are in now,” Tracy said.
The new police headquarters also will be equipped with solar panels, energy-saving lights and water-saving plumbing fixtures, all aimed at meeting the gold standard set by the U.S. Building Council, according to a port report.
Harbor commission President S. David Freeman told port staffers that he wanted to see the construction project completed on time and within budget.
“This building is quite well designed, but let’s just hope the expectations are very clear of these folks,” Freeman said. “They’re entitled to the bid amount, and not a nickel more.”
Separately, the harbor commission Thursday also signed off on a $2.5 million contract with Torrance-based Adesta Limited Partnership to build a new security system at the port’s cruise terminals.
Plans call for improving a fence surrounding the facility and installing a new security camera system at the cruise terminal, according to a port report.
In another vote, the harbor commission approved a $3 million contract with Los Alamitos-based Dynalectric to install new light fixtures that will reduce glare at the American President Line Terminal in berths 302-305.
Copyright 2008 Daily Breeze