Alongside Arvada city management, elected officials and city employees, Adolfson & Peterson Construction, Aurora, broke ground in late June on two new community police stations.

Photo courtesy of A and P

Arvada city officials celebrated the late June groundbreaking for two new police stations that will expand the citys community-based policing capabilities.

The Lake Arbor Community Station at 81st Avenue and Vance Street and the West Woods Community Station at 64th Avenue and Kedrick Drive are slated to open in February.

“This is a significant day in the history of how we serve our community,” said Police Chief Don Wick. “When these two stations open in spring 2014, it will be a major leap in our new policing model.”

The Arvada Police expanded its community-based policing this February when it embarked on a decentralized policing model. The model embraces a new way of organizing the department to make it more fluid, collaborative, networked and responsive to the community. Officers are assigned specific areas of the city for which they are responsible. This type of deployment allows police to respond more quickly to the community needs because officers are more intimately familiar with their assigned areas.

The new Arvada policing model capitalizes on:

• The knowledge, skills and abilities of its police force;

• The collaborative efforts of neighborhood revitalization groups and other organized efforts such as Neighbors Connected, Building Blocks and The Art of Neighboring;

• The development of closer relationships with law-abiding community members, businesses and members of the faith-based community; and,

• The department’s existing relationships by leveraging programs such as Crime Free Multi-housing, the School Resource Officers (SRO) and Community Response Impact Team (CRIT).

Arvada City Council approved the construction of the two new stations at its weekly meeting on June 17 by a vote of 7-0. The cost of the two new stations is $8 million. Arvada Police were able to economize on previous years budgets, allowing the stations to be built with existing funds.

“Police Chief Wick and his dedicated team of officers have always maintained a low crime rate and strong relationships within the community,” said Arvada Mayor Marc Williams. “The addition of these two community stations are yet another benefit for Arvada by keeping us connected and safe while helping us maintain our city’s reputation as a premier place to live, work and play.”

“Our officers are reminded daily: ‘Police like you live here.’ We know that relationships among our officers, residents, businesses and other community members is a key component to fighting and reducing crime. By having them operate out of the station in the sector they are assigned, this missive will become even more meaningful,” Wick said.