KYLE, Texas -- Last year, Kyle City Council gave the go-ahead to conduct a police facility needs assessment. The assessment is currently underway, and will identify the square footage needed for a future headquarters that could accommodate the city's growth.
- City conducting a police needs assesment
- Looking at possible options for future police headquarters
- Assesment to be completed February
"We really, truly need a police facility that we're going to be able to utilize and occupy for the next 25, 30 years," Kyle Police Captain Pedro Hernandez said.
Hernandez has dedicated more than two decades to the Kyle Police Department.
"I've been here almost 23 years and this is the fourth police building that we've been in," Hernandez said. "We outgrew this location pretty much the day we moved in."
He said every one of the former police buildings was originally used for a different purpose and then handed down to the department. The current headquarters used to be a bank.
"So it doesn't offer privacy, it doesn't offer the best security," Hernandez said. "Every building we've moved into has been a little bigger, a little better than the one before. But it's time that we really take a serious look at building a police facility that will provide the adequate workspace and provide all the security features and needs that a police department requires."
City officials have listened to the department's needs, and have toured the current facility.
"They're very well aware of what the deficiencies are in this building and our other buildings and they're taking the right steps to try to get us to where we need to be," Hernandez said.
The police facility needs assessment costs nearly $35,000 and will be paid to Austin-based Brinkley Sargent Wiginton Architects.
Hernandez would like to see a headquarters built from the ground up that can house all 80 plus personnel and accommodate citizens.
"When we have citizens come in, we need to be able to provide them an area where they can file a report, sit down with an officer and there be some privacy and not to where there's open areas, other common areas that are shared by other police staff," Hernandez said.
Council is considering several options, including building a new facility, and retrofitting existing buildings. The needs assessment is slated to be completed by the middle of February.