At the opening of the Columbus Police Department”s fifth substation Tuesday on Maple Street, Chief Joseph St. John says the CPD has finished expanding geographically, but not methodologically.
The Maple Street substation, next to the Dial-A-Bus office, joins existing substations at Sim Scott Park, Old Manor Apartments on 11th Street South, the Housing Authority on Avenue A and the CPI Group on Fifth Street North. None of the substations will be permanently manned, but rather serve as neighborhood specific check-in spots for officers to access a computer or take lunch breaks.
“Guys are going to visit here two or three times a day,” said St. John. “It was never designed for someone to sit here.”
In fact, sedentary cops are out altogether. St. John says he wants to begin bike patrols originating from the substations.
He says the idea of embedding cops in communities is nothing new, but it”s still the method of the future.
“The day you think ”What should we do today?” You”re already five years behind,” said St. John.
Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens, whose ward boundary is located close to the Maple Street substation, said the substation endeavor would be a success if it could stop just one crime.
The substation idea has been tried by past police administrations. Public Information Officer Terrie Songer says two substations existed when she joined the CPD in 1996, one at the Housing Authority and another on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The substation on MLK closed but several more were opened.
The substations were originally funded through a grant from the Housing Authority, which has been reassigned to pay the salary of Officer Ron Richardson. The substation locations were donated, so the CPD pays no rent or utility fees. Each substation contains a computer, a television, a refrigerator and a couch.
“I look at what the department was in July 2007 and I look at it now and I”m amazingly proud,” said St. John.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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