New locker room only begins the police-facility expansion

project

Marisa O’Neil

Times have changed, and now the police department facility is

changing with them.

Work will start next week to expand the women’s locker room and

the property and evidence room in the Costa Mesa Police Department’s

basement. The $400,000 project is the first major step toward a

hoped-for eventual expansion of the entire facility.

It was also one of the most needed projects, said Capt. Tom

Warnack, who is heading the expansion plans for the department. The

police department’s staff has more than doubled since its facility

was built in 1967, and now many more of those employees are women.

“Unfortunately, when this building was built, it was not taken

into consideration the potential number of female employees,” Officer

Julie Beckman said. “Not only sworn officers, but records

technicians, CSIs and civilian report takers.”

Right now, the room has only one shower and 21 lockers. That means

cramped quarters and long lines during shift changes, Beckman said.

It’s also left women employees spread throughout the building with

lockers crammed in bathrooms on the second and third floors, she

said.

The new, larger locker room will house 58 lockers -- many

double-sized to hold officers’ gear -- five showers and six sinks.

That will be enough to accommodate all the department’s female

employees and leave room for more in the future, Beckman said.

The department is also redoing and expanding the property and

evidence room, Warnack said. That will help accommodate the volumes

of property the department has accumulated over the years and retains

for investigations.

For now, both rooms are temporarily being housed in portable units

in the department’s parking lot.

Once the projects are complete, likely in the next six weeks, the

first piece of the department’s expansion puzzle will be in place.

Though the new evidence room will serve as a short-term stopgap,

the new locker room will represent the first complete phase to remain

in future renovation and expansion plans, Warnack said.

The department in 2002 got City Council approval to have plans

drawn up for an 11,000-square-foot expansion of the currently

45,145-square-foot facility.

In those plans, the current facility would be built out toward

City Hall. The expansion would include a public meeting room, a

larger crime-scene-investigations area, a separate entrance for

community members retrieving property, and additional workstations at

the front desk.

The extra space would also mean many workers who now have desks in

hallways would get to move inside offices, Warnack said.

The project, estimated last year at $16.4 million -- but likely to

cost more by the time it’s started -- has been on hold during the

state’s budget troubles.

City Manager Allan Roeder said the city hopes to get the project

back on their radar soon.

“We really need to move forward and put together at least a

financing plan,” he said.

Police officials are cautiously optimistic that they’ll eventually

have the space they need to do their jobs as effectively as possible,

Warnack said.

“This building reflects 1967 needs,” he said. “Now we have 2005

needs.”

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@ latimes.com.