DULUTH, MN (Northland's NewsCenter) - Duluth Police will be making their biggest move in decades, moving out of City Hall and into a new Public Safety Building at the top of the hill, just off of Rice Lake Road.
We went on a tour inside the new the police headquarters.
"This is the public entrance for people having business with the either the Sheriff's Office or the police department," said Duluth Deputy Police Chief Robin Roeser.
Roeser says one advantage of the new building is its central location.
"It's very easy for the officers, if they're up here doing a police report to quickly get back to any area of town."
Residents paying parking tickets will still do so at City Hall, all other business will be handled at the new location.
"Anything from firearms permits, to police reports, to speaking with one of our staff about an issue," said Roeser.
The Sheriff's Office is only a step away.
"Co-locating with the Sheriff's Office here is going to allow both of us to realize a lot of efficiencies moving forward, whether it's how we do records or investigations," said Roeser.
For the department, saving time is of the essence.
Roeser said the building is set up to be efficient, so that the police spend more of their time out on patrol.
"The building was designed with how they work in mind, so the place where they get their information at roll call, how they package and put away property or evidence, the spaces they use to interview people, places to get reports done, they're all very close to each other so that they can get their work done in an orderly fashion efficiently," said Roeser.
Changes include a large garage space where officers can get in and out more quickly, and the efficiencies come with a price the department can is proud of.
"The building has come in very much under budget. Under budget, on time, everything about the project has gone very well," said Roeser.
With the same number of officers out on patrol, the Department expects response time to calls will be the same, if not better.
Police hope to be working out of the new building March 1.
Posted to Web by Jena Pike
jpike@northlandsnewscenter.com
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