Photo by Erin Nelson.
Homewood Chief of Police Tim Ross in the parking lot of the new Homewood Police Department at the corner of Valley Avenue and Bagby Drive April 20 as it nears completion. The new facility is more than 53,000 square-feet and is scheduled to be complete mid- to late-May.
All Homewood Police Department operations will soon be under one roof when construction on the new $21.5 million Homewood Police Department headquarters is completed.
The department has been operating out of four buildings scattered across the city: the police headquarters on 29th Street, the west precinct on Oxmoor Boulevard, the training center on Citation Court and the tactical and narcotics building on Bagby Drive.
“If I have a meeting right now with my narcotics people, I have to wait on them to come across town, and they have to bring things from their office and hope they brought what they need. Sometimes they may need something and have to go back and get it,” Homewood Police Chief Tim Ross said. “This will take us to one building. We’ll all be under the same roof, and it will be a much more efficient way to operate.”
Those visiting the new building, located on the corner of West Valley Avenue and Bagby Drive, will notice one improvement immediately: it has much more room for parking, Ross said. The previous police headquarters building only had a couple dozen parking spots.
“We think that it’s very important to be able to accommodate the public need,” Ross said. “When they need to come to the police department for any reason, they won’t have a hard time finding a parking spot.”
When a person walked into the previous police headquarters building, he or she had to pick up a telephone and ask someone on the other line for assistance. Visitors can see a real face at the new building.
“You come into the first floor, and you will be able to immediately have contact with a clerk from police department records or from the municipal court,” Ross said. “There will be windows there to be able to walk up and talk to a live person and communicate your need.”
The building will house investigations on the first floor. People will also be able to come in and get accident reports or pay fines.
Administrative offices, patrol operations and training will be on the second floor. The new training room can accommodate 50 people— which is about twice as much space as the previous training room — and will be used to train police personnel on every aspect of police work, Ross said. Classes for the public, such as self-defense training for young people, have also been held in the past at the previous training facility.
The third floor will house special operations, traffic enforcement and the jail. The jail will have 34 beds and will be staffed around the clock.
“The prisoners will be in a much more secure facility,” Ross said. “The audio-visual technology will be state of the art ... which will enable our personnel to monitor the inmates’ activities and their safety.”
One of the things Ross said he is most excited about is the added amenities for the police officers. The new building will have a gym, lounge, locker rooms, kitchen and eating area on the second floor. In the previous building, there was no gym, and the locker rooms and kitchenette were cramped, Ross said.
“Those things, to me, will mean more to these police officers than anything else,” Ross said. “They’re going to have so many more benefits in terms of their working conditions and the availability of space. And, of course, not having to go somewhere else to work out.”
Homewood has seen a 55% crime decrease since 2015, which is the year before Ross became police chief. He attributes this crime rate decline to the hard work of Homewood’s police officers.
“It’s a great way to reward them,” he said. “And they deserve it. They’re the ones who do the work. They’re the ones I will point to and say, ‘This is why our crime is less than what it was four years ago.’”
Construction was originally expected to be complete at the end of April, but there have been some delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
