By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
Sandwiched between a liquor store and a pawn shop at 113 Park Ave., a spot that was vacant for several years has been transformed into a Glasgow Police Department substation.
GPD Chief Guy Howie announced the partnership arrangement he’d made with the Lessenberry family, which owns the Village Centre shopping/business center along Park Avenue, at a June meeting of the Glasgow Common Council. At the end of that meeting, Mayor Henry Royse said he was very excited they had worked out an agreement with owners of the shopping center.
“They will be working out of there; they will be very visible in the neighborhood,” he said.
At the July 10 council meeting, the mayor showed his enthusiasm for the project by inviting the public to attend a ribbon cutting at 11 a.m. July 20 that will be followed by an open house.
When Glasgow News 1 visited the site, Sgt. Cameron Murrell was taking advantage of the relative quiet there to make some phone calls.
“It’s nice,” he said of the place between his other conversations. “They did a lot to it.”
Joey Shields, the department’s mechanic and apparent handyman, was measuring, cutting and installing pieces of baseboard. Maj. Terry Flatt, who had come to speak with the reporter, brought along some informational items to leave there. Flatt said that the vast majority of the work to get the place ready for use had been done by a few people within one week, but a few finishing touches were still being applied.
The extra plumbing for the former beauty salon had to be “ripped out,” he said, and the pink walls with carousels and horses required a fresh coat of paint. The bathroom was redone with a new vanity and toilet system, and new carpet was laid throughout. A partial wall has been constructed to create a foyer-type “room” just inside the front entrance. There, the chairs and table – on which sits a divided container displaying the pamphlets Flatt brought on topics such as interacting with law enforcement officers as well as local mental health and domestic violence services – are where officers would have most of their interactions with community members who stop by to ask questions or file a report.
In the main room, behind the partial wall, police personnel have up to three other possible workstations: a desk, a table with a printer and other supplies and another, larger worktable. On the white board on the back wall between the bathroom and closet, Micah Janes – an animal control officer planning to transition to a police officer – had neatly printed a welcome message and sketched a GPD cruiser, complete with logo markings.
“He’s a really good artist,” Flatt said.
The large front tinted and reflective window has those markings as well, and signage for the building itself is in the works and expected to be in place by the open house.
“We’ve had a bunch of good compliments already, ya know, even from Day One,” Flatt said. “We’ve had folks stop by here, and some are glad to see us. Obviously, everybody’s not going to be happy we’re here, but we’re going to try it and see, and hopefully it’ll work out.”
He said that they don’t expect to have someone there around the clock, but it’s a place the officers can stop in and do their paperwork or meet someone who lives closer to it than the headquarters station who wants to file a report or voice a concern.
“This gives us quicker response time, say, to a fight in Gorin Park or a domestic in Gorin Park or something happening at one of the schools, and we’ve somebody here that can respond in a very few seconds versus coming all the way across town to get to Gorin Park, for instance, or even the parkway,” Flatt said.
They’ve had quite a few calls at Gorin Park already this year and surrounding residential areas, he said, and Murrell added they’ve been about a variety of issues. Flatt said he hopes having a nearby substation will deter some of the negative activities.
The goal is to have someone in and out from that station during all hours, but there would still be someone available from other locations, even if they aren’t physically at the substation.
“We just want folks to feel free to stop by here anytime they see a vehicle out front,” Flatt said, adding that the invitation stands even if it’s just because a kid wants to see what a police car looks like.
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