Year-long construction begins on new police headquarters. Why was this needed? And what are the benefits of this new building?

‘State-of-the-art’ upgrades include new computers

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Village officials broke ground last week on construction of new headquarters for the Malverne Police Department — a facility that they said would be built without increasing taxes.

Construction workers joined officials at the 1 Arlington Ave. site on Feb. 15 to kick off a project that has been delayed three years due to the Covid pandemic.

Mayor Keith Corbett said he made sure to budget the necessary funding so that construction could begin.

“To build this facility three years ago, we would have had to raise taxes dramatically,” Corbett said. “We worked really hard for three years to put money in a surplus, and we will be building this whole facility without raising taxes.”

Some of the money for the project was generated by the construction of six new homes on Gianna Court in 2019.

“Within six months of being mayor, we gained almost $30,000 in taxes,” Corbett said.

The money was set aside in the budget for the new police building, and the fate of the current police building, at 1 Britton Circle, is under discussion, and includes the possibility of selling the property or turning it into a park. The village board of trustees will have the final say on its future.

Corbett said that the new police headquarters would take “about a year to build out.”

According to Corbett, the new facility would be “state-of-the-art,” with new services being provided to the village. The new building would free up space in Village Hall, since the Office of Emergency Management would be relocated in the new 8,000-square-foot facility. The current Police Department building is old, and the new facility would have several upgrades, village officials said.

“We will have a state-of-the-art locker facility and a state-of-the-art OEM facility,” Corbett said.

New high-tech equipment will keep the Police Department in touch with the Fire Department and the Police Reserve Department. According to Corbett, this will be helpful in emergency situations, such as hurricanes or during other extreme weather conditions.

With the installation of new computers, officials working in the new building would be able to keep in touch with officials in other departments simultaneously throughout the village.

“The computers that are going to be in here are 10 times more than what our computers and our servers can handle in the old building,” Corbett said.

State-of-the-art cells and block walls, which could separately hold juveniles and adults, would also be included in the new police building.

“We’re going to have a sally port protect our police officers,” Corbett said.

The new headquarters would also be equipped with an elevator and faster internet. “The building also has T1 cables and internet connectivity so it can handle a lot more protect capacity than many other facilities in Malverne,” Corbett said. “So the building is the perfect shell to build this new headquarter into.”

Corbett said he is really proud of the modern technology and new police services being brought into the new building.

“It’s an amazing facility, and it’s really reflective of what we’re doing here in Malverne,” he said.

One Malverne resident, Robert Powers, agreed that the new headquarters is desperately needed.

“I think that any municipal department needs an updated facility to properly complete their jobs,” Powers said.

Powers said he feels extremely safe with the Malverne Police Department, and the new building would only increase his confidence in the department’s ability to carry out tasks.

“The new building will bring the police new technology, space and coordination to fully serve the residents of Malverne,” he said. “Again, if you have a fully functional facility, you will have the police continue to perform duties to their full capabilities.”