Heights Police Department Gets $1.9 Million Makeover

The main entrance to the has been gutted of everything we're used to, except a lonely Coca Cola machine.

Watch commanders' offices have been temporarily moved and the office personnel have to greet residents at a different window.  

All this inconvenience has been a long time coming and is in the interest of moving the department's 911 call center from the basement of the building back to where it originally was, according to Chief Michael Camilli.

"In the early ‘90s (the call center) was moved downstairs because this space couldn’t accommodate it anymore, and the finances of the city couldn’t accommodate renovating the space," Camilli explained, adding that the move to the basement was only a temporary fix.

"Life still goes on, technology still goes on, and old technology still wears out," Camilli said. "So we’re back into a full circle again where you need to replace the old technology. Where’s the best place to put it? Where it was originally designed to be: on the first floor of the Chicago Heights Police Department."

But the renovation isn't solely geared toward re-relocating the call center. Residents that visit the station after the estimated late-September completion date can expect to see a more civilian-friendly experience. 

"The way we used to serve the community’s needs is they would first come down and speak to our desk clerk, and they would tell them, 'I want a police report,'" Camilli remembered. "Then we would have to move them to another window up there, then they would have to go somewhere else to get the police report."

Not anymore. The addition of bank-style vacuum tubes will make the retrieval of documents much faster.

"If you need a document, we can communicate with the records room what it is that you need," Camilli said. "They could put it in the tube, send it–just like how a bank sends your stuff–to the front window and get it to the person."

The price tag on the big renovation is $1.9 million, a sizable chunk of change that the city didn't just have lying around. Camilli said the money had to come from several different places.

"The city’s resources are still in dire straits," Camilli said. "We’re always looking to do more with less. So, through grants, through restructuring of bonds with the city, through a whole bunch of different initiatives we are able to find the funding to restructure the building."

With a project the city has been planning for four years underway, Camilli said he's already eagerly awaiting completion.

"Honestly, I look forward to getting done," Camilli said. "I mean we’re struggling. Every day it’s a struggle to do the best for the community and I think once this is done, it’s going to be an easier way for us and for the community."