Palm Desert Police Move Into New Station
The Palm Desert Police Department has a new home.
Officers moved into the new station at 73-700 Gene Autry Trail on Monday.
The building also houses the Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells police departments.
Crews are still putting the finishing touches on the new station.
Capt. Dan Wilham said the department outgrow their other building off Fred Waring Drive a decade ago.
“We were to the point we were building offices in hallways and people are having to share lockers and we’re making office space out of what used to be closets and things like that,” said Wilham, who serves as the station’s police chief.
The spacious new structure, that’s located near Interstate 10, it’s easy to find and will get officers out on calls quicker, according to Wilham.
“So this eventually will be the center of the city so it’s going to make our response out to our beats a little easier,” said Wilham.
The $33 million facility also sports a lot of features their other building doesn’t, including a new 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art evidence warehouse.
According to Wilham, officers would hold evidence in the basement of their old building or the Indio sheriff’s station.
They also added a place where officers can investigate vehicles — involved in crashes or crimes.
“We can get up underneath it and look for hidden compartments and things like that so it’s a vast improvement over doing it in a parking lot in the heat,” said Wilham.
They’ve also added some beds so officers can rest in between late nights and early morning court.
There’s even a helicopter landing pad.
Wilham said the department will still use the other building to house it’s dispatch center, and they won’t be outgrowing this new station anytime soon.
