New Hoffman Estates police station puts a focus on green

Thirty years ago, a police station would have no need for a room dedicated to officers fighting cybercrime, Hoffman Estates Police Chief Clinton Herdegen said.

But with crimes like identity theft and Internet child pornography on the rise, Hoffman Estates' new police station provides investigators with such a space to tear through computer hard drives and spread out documents.

"It's a reflection of the changing society and the types of crimes we're dealing with now," Herdegen said.

Police will hold their first roll call at the new station on Saturday afternoon, Herdegen said. That's when residents should start dropping by 411 W. Higgins Road to file reports. If a police report is needed, residents should wait until Monday, as that's when records will be moved from the old 31,000-square-foot building on Gannon Drive.

Final touches still need to be applied, as the station remains littered with cardboard boxes. The shooting range won't be completed for about a month and officers continue to fidget with key card issues to enter the building. If officers want some target practice, they'll have to go back to the old station in the meantime.

There are many features that make the new 79,000-square-foot, $28 million station unique. Herdegen said that the design by SRBL Architects is under budget, though a final figure won't be known until all the work is finished.

The village moved its veteran's memorial from the old station to in front of the new one, and the results are stunning.

"It really helped tie everything together," Herdegen said.

A ceremony celebrating the move of the memorial will be held in the next two months, and at that time Herdegen said tours of the new station will be given.

One thing is certain: there's a focus on environmental efficiency and the building is full of green ideas. There's many large windows, which allow sunlight to pass through the two-story building. The roof is covered by plants that will grow 6 inches tall to help the reduce harmful gasses to the atmosphere and cut heating and cooling costs.

"It's actually very low maintenance," Herdegen said of the green roof.

Officials applied with the federal government to have the station certified as LEED Gold, which recognizes outstanding architectural design for conservation in new construction.

Herdegen said the station meets the criteria, as about 35 percent of construction materials making up the building were recycled, eclipsing the goal of using 20 percent recyclables. About 97 percent of the wood used in the building is certified. That means it came from places where trees were grown for lumber, not a rain forest or other source that cutting down a tree would have an adverse effect on the environment.

The sidewalks and loading docks are heated, so public works employees won't have to worry about snow removal during the winter.

Herdegen said the department was mindful of the future when designing the building. There's room to expand, even though the village doesn't have money in the budget to hire additional personnel in the near future.

"In 50 years, they still want this building functioning for the community," Herdegen said.

For example, there's an office in the station potentially reserved for a social worker if the department ever hires one. For the moment, the village's Director of Health and Human Services Algean Garner will use the office.

The department will allow police to treat sensitive matters with more care. There's a "soft" interview room, so police can interview children and their families in a more comfortable setting. There's a couch and television inside, compared to the sterile atmosphere of a regular interview room for suspects of more serious crimes. There's also a community resource center inside the station to help juveniles in the area.

The station is loaded with the latest in crime-fighting technology. Flat-screen televisions line the walls. Some of the screens will display where each patrol officer is dispatched

In the event of a tornado or other disaster, the police station is wired into the main village network for communications and emergency response. The station's emergency operation center is loaded with computers so, as Herdegen puts it, "all village business can be run from here."