Portsmouth Community Policing Facility

Police officers in front of current Police Department Facility

December 17, 2024

The City has engaged Matrix Consulting to conduct an assessment to help the City and the community evaluate the needs relative to policing. 

The scope of work includes evaluating staffing, community priorities, and how to accomplish those priorities with the parameters of the Municipal Campus.

The City Council voted to create a Blue Ribbon Municipal Building Committee at their December 16, 2024 meeting. 

The City will also be engaging a new architectural firm to further explore the opportunities to better accommodate the public and to more efficiently allocate services within the building.
 

 

TIMELINE

Next Steps 

CANCELLED - November 7 - Public Information Meeting at 6 pm in City Council Chambers at City Hall.

Fall 2024

September 23 - There will be a presentation from City staff on the progress of the project at the Monday, September 23 City Council Meeting. 

Full Presentation

Summer 2024

August - The Working Group met with the consultants to review facility options and offer feedback.

Summary

Over the last few months City and Police Department staff along with consultants Lavallee Brensinger Architects and Architects Design Group continued to work on a revised concepts for the Community Policing Facility. See below for brief summaries of updates given to City Council and links to the meeting videos.
 

  • August 5, 2024 – Staff continued to have meetings and work on design concepts responding to concerns to minimize the impact of the viewshed in front of City Hall. 

    Some of the concepts have no new construction on the front of the building, and while they are work well aesthetically, they do not work for the needs of the Police Department operations. Concepts also include those that minimally impact the viewshed, but not to the extent that the first concept did. 

    A stated priority to utilize as much of the existing station as possible to contain costs is balanced by the impact renovations and reorientations of those spaces will have on the rest of City Hall operations.

    There is a meeting scheduled for the working group in August to solicit their feedback on the revised concepts. A presentation of new and refined concepts will follow. Watch the full update to Council. 

  • July 15, 2024 – The staff group continued to work on concepts which focus on the back portion of the City Hall site. These revised options also include the potential for infill on the front of City Hall that would not affect the view from across the South Mill Pond. Staff are reviewing these options to ensure they function as required for the Police Department's needs.

    These new versions are not ready for presentation to the public, as they have not yet been fully vetted. Staff is looking to schedule a Working Group meeting followed by a report back to Council in late summer or early fall.

    Additionally, staff has solicited proposals from three firms for a staffing needs assessment to gain a better understanding of Portsmouth’s modern policing needs and how they fit into the space needs for the new facility. Watch the full update to Council.

  • June 17, 2024 – Based on feedback from the City Council work session and from the community, staff and consultants are working on concepts to maximize the use of the existing building, minimize the impacts to the viewshed and the front of the building. 

    There was also a desire to revisit the staffing need evaluation. Staff has reached out to a number of firms to explore a scope of work. This will be on a parallel track as staff refines design concept alternatives. Watch the full update to Council.

     
  • June 3, 2024 - City Council vote to affirm City Hall Municipal Campus as the preferred site for the Community Policing Facility and update on progress. Watch the discussion and vote.

City Council Work Session - May 20, 2024 at 6 pm

For more information and Zoom registration, visit the meeting listing.

Working Group, Winter 2024

While no formal votes were taken, the request was made in the work session for refinement to stay within the project costs outlined in the Capital Improvement Plan and, if possible, locate the facility on the municipal building campus at Junkins Avenue. The Working Group has been developing a hybrid program that includes renovating the current Police Station and building new on the campus. A report-back to City Council with these concepts will be presented in the spring.

City Council & Police Commission Joint Work Session

December 5, 2023 - Responded to requests for more information raised by City Councilors; shared the Working Group's thoughts on sites; questions & answer session; obtained guidance from City Council & Police Commission on next steps. 

City Council & Police Commission Joint Work Session

November 13, 2023 - Presented an overview of steps to date, including space needs, site selection process, and test fits of highest ranked sites. Presented initial opinions of costs, considerations, and allowed time for questions and answers. Opinions of costs for building new came in exceptionally high - $60 - $70M, well over monies detailed in the Capital Improvement Plan. 

Public Input Session

September 21, 2023 - Presented on space needs, site selection process, the test fits of highest ranked sites, question and answer and next steps in the process.

Public Information Meeting

July 11, 2023 - Materials and a recording of this meeting are in the sidebar.

City Hires Lavallee Brensinger Architects & Architects Design Group

In Early 2023, the City conducted a competitive process to select a consulting team to assist with these tasks. Today, the City is pleased to announce that it has selected  (LBA) and  (ADG) as the consulting team. The scope of work consists of the two parts outlined above: update the 2014 programmatic space needs study and develop information necessary to determine whether to renovate or relocate the police facility to potential sites identified that meet specific law enforcement criteria. Conceptual designs will be provided as part of this process. The team will develop opportunities for community input at various stages of its work. 

City Funds Space Needs and Site Evaluations

In April 2022, the Portsmouth City Council voted unanimously to authorize funds for “the first part of an intensive public process to understand what is needed for a modern community police facility.” That process is scheduled to begin with an update of the 2014 programmatic space needs study followed by an evaluation of options for renovating the existing facility and new construction. The new construction option will include evaluating potential sites for a new facility with the intention of bringing forward recommendations. 

Public Meetings

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WHAT IS COMMUNITY POLICING?

The police department presented the following slide in the FY24 budget work session with the City Council. It defines, in a nutshell, the primary focus of Community Policing.  

Community Policing Slide

 

The primary focus of “Community Policing” is creating partnerships, active problem solving, and an organizational structure that supports this philosophy. 

To be a successful police agency, the department needs collaborative relationships with all aspects the public has to offer. Cops with Kids, National Night Out, meeting with seniors, and impromptu conversations, whenever and wherever possible, are just a few of the many events and efforts officers are a part of in the community. 

Meeting with other city departments, resident groups, and downtown businesses expand those important relationships to augment problem solving within the city. These relationships help prevent crime, solve crime, and help the department keep the public safe. 

Partnering with numerous agencies on the local, state, and federal levels is what the department considers “force multipliers” and completes the loop of what Community Policing in Portsmouth is all about. 

It takes many to successfully police the city, and the department needs a facility that fosters those attributes. 

What is a Community-Centered Police Facility?

COMMUNITY-CENTERED POLICE FACILITY

A law enforcement facility is another tool an officer uses. It is not an office building. 

International Association of Chief of Police (IACP) published an article about the psychology of a police facility. The old school facility gave the impression of a “fortress”. That is not optimal if a positive community relationship with police is the goal. Police facilities are now designed to focus on making the facility work with and for the community and stakeholders, while still maintaining the security required of a law enforcement facility. 

“… Given the times, when communities are calling for more openness, more transparency, and more inclusiveness from their police departments, can the profession afford to neglect the role of law enforcement buildings in how police are perceived? After all, when victims venture to report a crime to the police, they often do so within a police station. When offenders are taken for their initial bookings, they are taken to a police station. When police officers report to work, they typically do so in a police station. When reporters go to get quotes from department officials, when new recruits go to turn in their applications… a lot of law enforcement’s contact with the public and community stakeholders happens at a police station or similar public safety facility. Is it not valuable, then, to consider how to make that contact one where the individual walks away with a positive impression of law enforcement and not a negative one?”

Psychology of Space: Enhancing Legitimacy through Open, Transparent, and Inclusive Facilities for Police and the Public
– Police Chief Magazine

The goal for the police department is two-fold. To build a new police facility that meets the needs of the department and 21st Century policing and design the public face and public areas inside the building to be “community inclusive”.  

The law enforcement expert currently on the design team with Lavallee Brensinger is architect Ian Reeves from ADG. He wrote an article detailing the topic of “Facility Design for Community Engagement”. In the article for Police Chief Magazine, he states “…Community engagement has become the central focus of policing…There are many ways to implement this philosophy, and facility design is one factor that can play a critical part in any law enforcement agency’s community engagement efforts….” Read the full article. 

The facility the Department is currently occupying what was a former hospital in 1962. The Police Department has occupied the space, renovated in 1991 to fit police operations into the lower levels of the hospital, for 32 years. In a meeting recently, while discussing the space needs assessment, Mr. Reeves said a police facility is a 24/7/365 building. When a police department uses a facility for a year, it equates to three years of wear and tear use of a regular building.  

Generations of staff have made the quirkiness and less-than-optimal space function at 3 Junkins Avenue. However, after 32 years and the significant changes in policing, equipment, IT, and even evidence submittal and processing, to name a few, we hope, through this public process, the City residents will agree there is a significant need for a new police facility.  

April 2023 Project Update

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In April 2022, the Portsmouth City Council voted unanimously to authorize funds for “the first part of an intensive public process to understand what is needed for a modern community police facility.” That process is scheduled to begin with an update of the 2014 programmatic space needs study followed by an evaluation of options for renovating the existing facility and new construction. The new construction option will include evaluating potential sites for a new facility with the intention of bringing forward recommendations.  

Earlier this year, the City conducted a competitive process to select a consulting team to assist with these tasks. Today, the City is pleased to announce that it has selected Lavallee Brensinger Architects (LBA) and Architects Design Group (ADG) as the consulting team. The scope of work consists of the two parts outlined above: update the 2014 programmatic space needs study and develop information necessary to determine whether to renovate or relocate the police facility to potential sites identified that meet specific law enforcement criteria. Conceptual designs will be provided as part of this process. The team will develop opportunities for community input at various stages of its work. 

About the Design Team

Lavallee Brensinger Architects was established in 1976 and is headquartered in Manchester with offices in Boston and Portland ME. Their Civic + Cultural | Municipal branch of the firm is responsible most recently for the new police headquarters in Dover NH, the Public Safety Facility in Wells ME and the police Department Headquarters for the City of Manchester, among other projects. The firm also handled the renovations to the north face of Portsmouth City Hall.  Architects Design Group is a nationally recognized experts in the design of modern community police facilities.