Renovations at Palm Springs Police Department causing headaches for officers
Renovations at the Palm Springs Police Department were supposed to take eight weeks, however construction is currently pushing ten months. As the construction continues, so does the frustration for officers and staff.
“That’s what’s been frustrating, our officers carry a lot of equipment, they wear a lot of clothing, and they get dirty doing what they’re doing, based on their job. They need adequate showers, adequate storage and that’s been very frustrating for them,” Captain Mike Kovaleff said.
Tonight, Palm Springs City Council is voting to approve up to $100,000 in legal services in what could be the first steps in legal action against the sub contractor tasked with remodeling the station. The multi-million dollar project uses Measure J funding and started in December. It should have taken 2 months to complete.
“We have four projects going on at the police department right now, remodeling our training center, our men’s and women’s locker rooms, our detective bureau and our front lobby and records area,” said PSPD Captain Mike Kovaleff.
PSPD officers have sine been crammed into two outdoor trailers. The current situation offers less than adequate temporary facilities where staff are expected to shower and change inside the small trailers. The trailers have small lockers, poor ventilation and offer just enough space to fit only a couple people comfortably.
The temporary accommodations are so bad, we’re told some officers have been opting to take rest breaks and change into uniforms in their cars in the parking lot outside. Our station received complaints of overflowed toilets and broken equipment inside the trailers, too.
KESQ & CBS Local 2’s Sarah Trott gets a behind the scenes look at the construction at the department. Tune in to News Channel 3 at 5 p.m. or CBS Local 2 at 6:30 p.m. as she finds out why the project is taking so long and what the Palm Springs City Council is doing to fix this.
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