Construction of Northeast Area Command Center scheduled to begin soon

If you build it, call times will improve.

That’s what North Las Vegas Police Department officials hope will happen with the construction of a temporary Northeast Area Command Center scheduled to begin in the next few months.

The proposed Northeast area command center will be located at 6445 Palmer St., and officials project that it will be complete in summer 2009. The project originally was projected to be completed an operational by February, but the date has been pushed back due to a number of delays.

“We’re very excited to see this get built,” police Chief Joseph Forti said. “The addition of the third command center in North Las Vegas, the Northeast Command Center is a step toward our ultimate goal of adding at least another two facilities to the city before 2020.”

The facility will be 6,000 square feet with a small waiting area where citizens can file reports, a room that will be available for community and neighborhood watch group meetings and basic patrol operations areas.

Three years ago, according to assistant director of administrative services Al Noyola, the North Las Vegas City Council approved a 20-year plan that will allow for the construction of four strategically located area command centers with the purpose of serving specific geographic sectors of the city.

“The city has grown quite quickly,” Noyola said. “We’re now trying to catch up, and it has to be done in phases. It won’t be done overnight. But it is something that we’re working toward.”

Noyola said that it has been the city’s original plan for the facility had been for it to be built near the Sky View Multi-Generational Center at Centennial Parkway and Statz Street, but funding for a permanent command center at that location has yet to be identified.

“In lieu of finding funding, in an effort to keep up service in that area, we will be putting in a temporary facility to assign officers to,” Noyola said. “That building will not replace the permanent facility we still have planned. It will not have the capabilities of a full command center. But, it is a temporary solution.”

Funds for the construction of the temporary facility come from the public safety tax override, according to Noyola.

Forti said that the city has grown by leaps and bounds in the last decade, making the expansion of department presence with more command centers vital.

“When I joined the force in the early ‘80s, the building at Lake Mead Boulevard and Bruce Street was the only one in the city,” Forti said. “With the growing city, the department is making plans to expand our presence in terms of command centers as well.”

The department’s Northwest Area Command Center, 3755 W. Washburn Road, opened in 2004, when, according to Forti, officials were determined that splitting the city in two sections would not just allow for better response times but also for response times to go down.

“Much of the population of our city has migrated north,” he said. “With the central command being located in the south, it only makes sense that several centers would need to be located at various points throughout this community to serve the citizens most effectively. That is our goal.” Assistant Chief Joe Chronister said that it is important for command posts to be in neighborhood areas.

“Close proximity to the geographic service area provides our guys with reduced travel time, which gets them to you quicker,” he said.

Approximately 30 officers will be stationed at the center, working from the post to serve the northeast area for 19 hours per day.

“We will have several academies going in the foreseeable future,” Forti said. “Once we hire more officers we hope to be able to fully staff the command center, but until then, we are doing everything that we can to create a real presence.”

Noyola said that while the department still anticipates that the permanent facility will be built, he expects the Palmer Street location will be active for at least several years.

“There’s an entire process that has to be sought out for permanence,” he said. “We have to identify those funds for the permanent facility, it has to be designed then built. That will take years. The important thing is that we see this as enough of a priority that we are making things happen and finding solutions. Even if they may be temporary.”

Contact North Las Vegas and Downtown View reporter Amanda Llewellyn at allewellyn@viewnews.com or 380-4535.