Aurora police unveil their new home
"Thank you, and welcome to our new home," said Aurora Cmdr. Joseph Groom.
And with that, in a grand unveiling fit for a king's castle, the doors to the new $108.2 million Aurora Police Headquarters and Branch Court facility were opened to the media and a few hundred VIPs.
The public can take self-guided tours of the facility at 1200 E. Indian Trail. from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. today and from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.
The 152,000-square-foot headquarters will house the department's 300 officers and close to 100 civilian employees, and features some of the most advanced technology available for crime-fighting today.
It will replace the 43-year-old headquarters at 350 N. River St., which was built in 1966 and designed for 89 police officers - the size of Aurora's force at that time.
Mayor Tom Weisner called the headquarters a well-deserved gift from the community.
"After years of working in a rapidly deteriorating and undersized building, our police department desperately needed a facility that would meet the needs of the 21st century," he said. "I'm happy that our police force, which has served us so well, will no longer have to make do with anything less than the latest crime-fighting tools and technology."
Some highlights along the self-guided tour include a first-of-its-kind jail, where each detention room has a layer of "liquid crystal" glass that will temporarily obscure the view when detainees are moved throughout the area, two courtrooms, "guardian" sculptures at each exterior column, which are a modern interpretation of Aurora's "memory sculptures" on the New York Street bridge in downtown Aurora.
City officials also praised the building's several "green" features, including flooring made with recycled glass, sheet rubber, and cork; photovoltaic panels that supply much of the power to the facility; natural lighting; and permeable pavers in the parking lot that allow for stormwater drainage into a bioswale.
The Emergency 911 Dispatch Center, which will move into the headquarters early next year, will feature updated technology and 12 dispatch stations, up from the current six stations, with the ability to expand to 24. The center will be complemented by a new, state-of-the-art 911 telephone system.
Sgt. Mark Weeks also raved about the new investigations division that, for the first time, will house all 60 detectives, leading to better intelligence gathering and strategizing.
"We're just thrilled with the way everything turned out," he said during the tour. "We're going to get a lot of great use from this facility for a long time to come."
The headquarters is complemented by the Training and Support (TAS) Facility, which opened in March and houses the largest lead-free tactical firearms proficiency range in Illinois, a climate-controlled evidence storage warehouse and forensic laboratory with automated fingerprint identification capabilities.
For information about the public open houses, call (630) 264-INFO.