By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
January 11, 2012

Soon, those within the boundaries of the future East Patrol Division (EPD)/Crime Lab Campus will learn what their properties are worth.

Three independent appraisal companies conducted the appraisals, which will be sent to property owners this month.

Site boundaries include 128 parcels of land, 66 of which are occupied homes, Sgt. Mark Stinson of the Kansas City Police Department Capital Improvements Unit said.

Stinson provided an update on the East Patrol project during a recent Northeast Industrial Association (NEIA) meeting.

By combining the East Patrol Division and Crime Lab Campus projects, KCPD will save between $7 million to $8 million, Stinson said. Total cost of the project is $57 million.

The East Patrol/Crime Lab Campus will be located between 26th Street on the north, 27th Street on the south, Brooklyn Avenue on the west and Prospect Avenue on the east.

“I don’t know how many hours we spent literally just driving East Patrol looking for some hidden gem of land we could buy,” he said.

KCPD also set up a website to receive suggestions from the public. Sixty-six citizens submitted suggestions on the website, which included 77 locations. Those locations were then narrowed down to 25, Stinson said. KCPD, along with city officials, weighed the pros and cons of each site and used seven criteria (environmental hazards, ease of vehicle and pedestrian access to the site, size and shape of the land, location within a high crime rate area, among others) to make their decision.

While some residents argued the new East Patrol campus will be within Center Zone, Stinson said, “Admittedly, it’s on the border of East Patrol, but it’s just as close if not closer to the majority of the calls.”

East Patrol Division receives the most calls for service from the western edge of EPD’s boundaries, he said. The most violent crime occurs in a four-block area, he added.

Crime lab downfalls

One disadvantage to the current crime lab is that a typical crime lab needs 1,000 square feet per person to be an accredited lab, he said. KCPD’s current lab offers approximately 450 square feet person, he said.

“We can’t hire additional fingerprint or DNA people to get caught up on our backlogs because there’s just not enough space to put those people everywhere,” Stinson said.

The new crime lab will have enough space to expand in the future if needed, he said.

To further enhance the crime lab, KCPD is considering relocating the evidence warehouse to the new crime lab campus.

As for the citizens, one advantage of the future site will be a larger community room with access to bathrooms and other amenities and adequate parking space. In addition, the site will include a multi-purpose building that will be used as a workout facility for officers and a place to host Police Athletic League events for neighborhood children.

East Patrol’s current facility won’t go to waste and will most likely be used as a radio repair facility, Stinson said.

Project timeline

KCPD is still in the process of land acquisition and plans to complete that process in late February or March. Contractors will demolish the properties this spring and summer, but construction won’t begin until 2013. The project is expected to be completed by the spring of 2014.