[Vision2020] Re: Joint law enforcement center

[Mark Solomon]

One obstacle to reuse of an existing building is the inclusion of the 
county jail facility. While not an impossible architectural task, 
jails are a lot more complicated than office/dispatch/training/duty 
rooms.

Mark S.

At 7:39 AM -0700 5/10/06, Dan Carscallen wrote:
>Thoughts and comments:
>The Joint Law Enforcement Center is probably the best idea I've heard in
>a long time.  I was tickled when Sheriff Rausch had that as part of his
>platform.  I'd like nothing more than getting Moscow's dispatch back on
>this side of the border.  I envision having shared dispatch a la
>Whitcom, but with some cooler name that says its in Latah County,
>because we gotta be cooler than them.
>
>Also, with the Sheriff's Dept. and MPD moving out of their respective
>buildings now, that opens up more room for the Courthouse and for City
>offices.  Win/Win, if you ask me.
>
>Concerns:
>I guess the biggest worry might be in the future cooperation of
>leadership.  Moscow's Chief is hired, Latah County's Sheriff is elected.
>It took an election to get a Sheriff that was amenable to pursuing the
>JLEC (yeah, an acronym is easier to type, but I just used more
>keystrokes mentioning that I used an acronym -- I'll stop now).  Another
>election could garner us a Sheriff that is not quite so fond of a shared
>building/dispatch center.  The same could also be said of a new chief,
>but I would think the City of Moscow would probably hire someone who
>would commit to continuing the relationship.
>
>Suggestions:
>I'd hope both agencies would look at trying to fill an unused building.
>This seems MUCH more economical than trying to build an all new JLEC.
>Tidyman's jumps out at me as a potential site, with a large parking lot
>already available.  I'm not sure of how it is used now, but the GTE
>building on Harold street could be another option, but I like the idea
>of Tidyman's better due to it's access to the state and county road
>system, as well as quick access to major city streets.  Plus, it
>"undarkens" that empty store.
>
>More to follow I'm sure,
>
>DC