City Commissioners approve security contract for new GFPD evidence expansion
City Commissioners approved a $24,860 contract during their Dec. 3 meeting for security equipment installation to the new evidence addition at the Great Falls Police Department.
Commissioners awarded the contract to Alert Security Professionals.
The GFPD evidence building expansion is about 8,000 square feet of new construction added to the south side of the existing police department building.
Construction underway on GFPD evidence expansion
The construction contract was awarded in February and work began in August but is currently on a winter shutdown.
The project was identified as a priority in April 2022 for American Rescue Plan Act, or federal COVID relief, funds.
City staff worked with the architect and contractor to determine security and access needs for the new space and asked Alert Security for a quote for security controlled doors and cameras since the company already provides security to the existing police department building, ensuring that the security systems are integrated.
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The project is being funded with ARPA funds and the security contract brings the overall project budget to $4,058,457.50.
Commissioners awarded a $3,544,750 contract to Wadsworth Builders for the project in a 3-2 vote in February.
GFPD has faced increasing overcrowding in its evidence storage and processing areas over the years.
“More burdensome retention requirements and increases in case numbers have exacerbated the problem, making the need for addition space critical,” according to city staff.
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In April 2022, commissioners selected the expansion as a top priority project for American Rescue Plan Act, or federal COVID relief, funds.
In February 2023, the city hired BSpark Architecture to design the expansion.
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Commissioners had been scheduled to vote on the construction contract at an earlier meeting, but delayed the decision so staff could review a protest by the other bidder, James Talcott Construction.
Staff ultimately recommended awarding the contract to Wadsworth.
City likely to postpone GFPD evidence building construction award
In November 2022, city staff told commissioners that the evidence storage and processing space is nearly overrun and they expect to run completely out of space within the next two years, according to staff.
City staff told commissioners during that 2022 meeting that there’s more evidence coming in to the facility than going out and that the department receives about 300 to 700 pieces of evidence in homicide cases annually.
City approves contract for GFPD evidence addition
The five year total from 2017 to 2021 of evidence coming in was 61,974 pieces, compared to 36,323 pieces going out over the same time period, according to city staff..
Evidence retention is dictated by law and agreements with lawyers and courts during cases, city staff said.
City staff told commissioners in 2022 that as GFPD added more offices through the COPS grant and crime task force initiatives there could be an increase in evidence collection.
Staff has long been discussing the need for more evidence processing and retention space, GFPD Chief Jeff Newton said and during the summer of 2022, staff began a discussion of adding a pre-fabricated addition to the existing building but determined that wasn’t a feasible option.
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Staff also determined that a new free-standing building would be too expensive.
In July 2022, commissioner approved a contract with BSpark Architecture for pre-design services with an hourly rate not to exceed a total of $39,250.
BSpark reviewed the existing space and options for renovating existing space or building on to GFPD.
One option was to remodel the existing space for about $1.1 million, but it would only add about 10 percent of evidence storage space and potentially close the gym space, which is a requirement in the collective bargaining agreement for police officers.
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Staff recommended a building expansion to allow for more processing and storage space, as well as a vehicle intake area.
That project is an estimated $4.4 million and would increase storage space by 82 percent with minimal impact to current operations since it would be on the southside of the building and also improve parking and security, according to staff in 2022.
Internal scoring of community ARPA grant applications underway
Staff said the proposed project doesn’t include increased training space, but Newton said in 2022 that they are looking at other options to expand that space to bring in more training programs rather than travel.
Expanding evidence space, Newton said, is a top priority.
Commissioner Rick Tryon said, “this looks like something that is an absolute necessity.” but was concerned that they hadn’t budgeted enough ARPA funds for it in their priority list.
