The Darien Police Department is a 21st-century crime-fighting force. It has machines that scan fingerprints straight to the national database, forensic computers running on powerful servers and surveillance cameras displaying on flat-panel TVs. The problem for Chief Duane Lovello is finding space for it all.
"The building is woefully undersized and inadequate for the services we provide," Lovello said. A renovated headquarters for the police is one of the three major capital building projects that the Board of Selectmen is considering, along with a new Senior Center and upgrades to Weed Beach's facilities.
The town built the station in 1932 and has not renovated it since the late 1980s. Lovello has been forced to repurpose rooms. Traffic patrol and K-9 officers set up desks in the garage next to their vehicles. Servers stand in closets with windowless air conditioning units preventing them from overheating. The practice shooting range is too small and is used for storage. Officers practice their aim behind the station, next to impounded vehicles and within earshot of the Darien Library.
The original holding cells are still there, with classic iron bars that are unsafe by modern standards. "They're museum-like," Lovello said.
And a recent law change requires police to separate juvenile offenders from adults. Lovello said he does not know how they will accomplish that.
Most of the facilities are out-of-date: In the women's locker room, the six female officers have to share a simple shower stall and under-sized lockers. In the men's changing room, a leak in the ceiling has left a hole 5 feet wide, with water continuously dripping.
Although the police department's renovations have the highest price tag at $5 million, Lovello said the repairs are needed as quickly as possible. "The building's 80 years old, and it's just falling apart," he said.
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