North Port Police Department running out of space due to fast-growing community
NORTH PORT, Fla. - A conference room now houses two offices and a storage closet has been turned into a commander’s office.
How about a desk right in the middle of actual records in the record department? North Port Police are running out of room.
"We’ve been trying to do everything we could to utilize as much space as soon as possible to put people’s positions in this headquarters here," said Deputy Chief Christopher Morales.
With barely any space left to expand, the North Port Police Department is currently looking to add trailers to their back parking lot to accommodate future growth.
"It is mission critical. We are 185% above capacity. This venture started in 2017 when we ran out of space for our crime scene and evidence," said Deputy Chief Morales.
They’ve gotten creative and moved evidence and property overflow into what was designed to be a sally port. 131 officers and 49 civilians are employed at the department and those numbers will increase.
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They’ll need to hire 100 more employees over the next 10 years.
That’s how fast North Port is growing.
"All the support staff that help provide police services are in the main headquarters here. It’s not just the police officers out in the street and in the cars. There’s a lot of support in the background that help make a safe community," said Deputy Chief Morales.
North Port City Commissioners are considering a $122 million dollar new department with more than 100,000 square feet in a new location.
"We’ve had it in our budget and our budget conversations for the last several years. The fact that we earmarked the project means we had thought about the project. It just didn’t pop up overnight," said Jerome Fletcher.
North Port City Manager Jerome Fletcher said the commission will work to determine where funds will come from.
"There’s multiple choices on how to pay for it and I think it will take multiple sources of funding to pay for it," said Fletcher.
On Thursday, March 7, a special city commission meeting will be held to discuss further options and where the city will go from there.
Deputy Chief Chris Morales said it’s an investment for a fast-growing community that shows no signs of slowing down.
"You have to stay in front of the curve to keep your community safe. If you stay behind that curve, it will play hard to catch up and crime will increase," said Deputy Chief Morales.
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