Councilwoman Peggy Neely's
Tatum Sun Times Column

February 2007

New Police Precinct Timetable Advanced to Boost Public Safety

Northeast Phoenix residents who have waited patiently for a stronger police presence in their neighborhoods will see a big, positive change in the near future with the new northeast Phoenix police precinct.

Using some creative financing ideas, the city has found a workable way to build and staff a new police precinct a full two years ahead of schedule.

The design work for the new precinct that will be located near Cave Creek Road and Smokehouse Trail will begin this coming summer, followed by the start of construction early next year. The precinct should be completed and ready for use in the early or middle part of 2008.

This is great news for District 2 residents who would have had to wait at least another two years for any design or construction work on the project to begin.

The City Council, which has long considered public safety the top priority in the city, recognized the importance of pushing the project forward.

Serving this fast-growing area of our district from other nearby police precincts has increased the time it takes for patrol officers to reach their beat areas and resulted in increased response times. Having a police precinct much closer to the area that needs to be served will help shorten the crucial response times, while bringing police officers closer to the community.

While a small amount of design money for the building was included in the 2006 Bond Program approved by city voters last year, there was no money for construction and operation costs. That meant waiting until the city could find additional money for the project, possibly through another bond issue.

However, the mayor, councilmembers and city staff developed a plan that will allocate some money from the city’s general fund contingency budget to kick start the project and then use interim financing to bridge the gap before revenues from the 2006 Bond Program become available. Additionally, there was agreement that the money needed to run the precinct would be included in future general fund budgets, beginning with partial funding in the 2008-09 fiscal year, when the new precinct is scheduled to be open.

Because the far southwest section of the city is experiencing similar growth, the city also agreed to advance construction of a new police precinct for that area as well. Working the two projects together will save money because the city will be able to use the same basic design for the two buildings and issue a single design and construction contract for both of them.

We are all very excited about the new District 2 precinct and pleased that we were able to find an acceptable and cost efficient way to bring it about much sooner than anyone had planned or anticipated. We want to thank our residents, too, for their strong support of our efforts to boost public safety.

Phoenix City Councilwoman Peggy Neely represents District 2, which includes most of northeast Phoenix. She can be reached at 602-262-7445 or through e-mail at council.district.2@phoenix.gov.