Fuchs Proud of New Redding Police Facility

After acquiring three grants — one from Washington and two from Hartford — after a full project length of a couple of years, the 's $1.45 million facilities and communications modernization project has been completed and broken in by Redding's finest.

On Monday, Police Chief Douglas Fuchs led members of the press around the department, to show the its new addition, upgrades to the dispatchers' console and renovations and reconfigurations of previously existing space.

"I'm very happy with the project," Fuchs said, adding that though there were a lot of inconveniences during the construction — lots of banging — his staff knew they were temporary and endured. "The rank and file were great."

For the department's addition — which cost $650,000 and was paid for with state funds — Fuchs said the project was designed to serve three functions: improve the department's holding cell and prisoner processing area, to give officers — male and female — locker room space and to add a break room where officers could eat lunch.

"We built what we could afford," Fuchs said.

Holding cell and processing area

Before the addition was completed, he said, prisoners would have to walk passed residents who were in the waiting room before getting processed. Now, there's a separate entrance through which officers can lead them.

"It's a lot safer for the officers and a heck of a lot safer for the people," Fuchs said.

The department's new processing room and holding cell give officers the ability to, for example, fingerprint Board of Education employees if they are holding a perpetrator at the same time. Fuchs said there are a whole lot of people who come in to be fingerprinted.

"Before, we had to turn them away," he said.

Fuchs said the equipment the department has is not new, just the space in which it's stored.

There are two cells for prisoners staying overnight in the new addition. Fuchs said there are audio and visual recording devices in both cells. Prisoners are given mattresses on which to sleep.

"Not all departments do that," he said.

Communications upgrades

The department's communications were upgraded a couple of years ago through an $800,000 federal grant, Fuchs said. The upgrades increased Redding Police's transmitting abilities, creating a "great deal of redundancy."

"During the storm, we lost two transmitters," Fuchs said, adding that because the department has triple redundancy, "officers could barely notice. Our communications both police and fire held strong."

Fuchs said there'd been talk in the past of taking down the tower in Redding Center behind the police department because it's an eyesore. Fuchs said that tower is "paramount to public safety."

"Should everything fail, we're self-contained," he said.

Locker rooms, exercise equipment

There are two locker rooms at the police station now — one for males, the other for females. Each officer is given their own locker. The room is equipped with showers, which Fuchs said came in very handy during Tropical Storm Irene and the freakish Alfred when officers were working long hours and in many cases were without electricity at their own houses.