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UAPD ready for new station

The UAPD is getting ready to move in - hopefully before Spring Break.

Construction workers are putting the finishing touches on a new university police station, which is slated to be finished next month.

"Right now we are ahead of schedule," said Sgt. Michael Smith, UAPD spokesman.

The new building - at East First Street and North Mountain Avenue - is expected to improve the police department's functions, he said.

"It's up to standard and is more user friendly, which will allow us to work more efficiently," Smith said.

The station will allow them to consolidate services and communication within the department, he added

"We have always wanted a new facility," Smith said. "The old place was a temporary design."

A parking structure is slated to be built on East Sixth Street, displacing the old station at 1200 E. Lowell St.

The new UAPD station will make them more visible to UA students and the community surrounding the university, Smith said.

"It will make people feel safer with a police department right there," he said. "Our old station was kind of hidden."

The new building may also allow for new officers, depending on the university's budget, Smith said.

"The demand and need for officers is there," he said.

Smith said UAPD kept in communication with its new neighbors.

"They are happy from the indication that we get," he said. "They were considered and are pleased with it. We were able to meet with the neighborhood's needs."

University police were also pleased that the new station is located near several sorority and fraternity houses, Smith said.

Smith said the location will allow the department to have a good relationship with the sororities and fraternities.

"We will be able to have good interaction with them," he said.

But not all its new neighbors are happy. Members of Phi Gamma Delta, 1801 E. First St, have "mixed emotions" about the new station, said Paul Sheppard, recording secretary.

"It's definitely not the best of things," Sheppard said. "We can cope with it ... there're things we won't be able to do anymore."