OPD opens West Precinct in Elkhorn
Citizens of Elkhorn and Omaha will now be receiving faster service from the Omaha Police Department, after the official opening of the OPD West Precinct.
The new precinct, located on Cumberland Drive next to The Mark in Elkhorn, held a ribbon cutting ceremony on the morning of Sept. 24. The 36,000-square feet building was originally opened to OPD uniformed officers on Sept. 8. The West Precinct is Omaha’s fifth police precinct and hopes to provide better service and quicker response times to emergency calls in the western portion of the city.
OPD Chief Todd Schmaderer, during the opening remarks of the ceremony, said that the fifth precinct had been talked about for almost 20 years.
“Our excitement has finally culminated into this building in front of us,” Schmaderer said. “We wanted to ensure uniform coverage throughout the city. This facility allows us to provide a better response time and solid coverage, with no waste in movements around the city. I anticipate seeing a definite increase in service, with a decrease in response time for our citizens’ needs, 911 calls and anything else that helps ensure public safety.”
Under the leadership of Captain Mark Dessler, the OPD West Precinct will help spread the coverage of the city, with 80 uniformed officers and about 45 Traffic Unit officers reporting to the new facility. Officers will now cover everything from 220th Street to the North and South of the Interstate. Schmaderer said that the extra cap of coverage will allow the Department to police the city more efficiently.
“In the past, an officer might have had to travel from 180th and Center Streets all the way to 45th and Woolworth; that’s just a lot of driving time,” Schmaderer said. “This precinct will help eliminate that travel time. We will track our response times and see where we are at in a year, but as of some of our early indicators have shown, we are already experiencing a decrease in response times, which will help improve our service to the community.”
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Several of the amenities located inside of the West Precinct include a workout room and locker rooms for officers; a conference room for meetings (including even Boy Scout or Neighborhood Watch meetings); a media room for interviews and reports available to the media; Emergency Response, Uniform Patrol and Traffic Unit offices; large bays for emergency vehicles; and many other rooms to accommodate the needs of the Omaha Police Department.
Schmaderer stated that if the West Precinct was its own department, it would be the fourth largest police department in the state. Both Schmaderer and Mayor Jean Stothert said that they were very pleased to see that the precinct was able to be built at about $8 million, which was $2 million dollars under budget.
“This is a major addition to policing and public safety plans for Omaha, which also completes our five year strategic plan,” Schmaderer said.
“The opening of this precinct coincides with another important milestone,” Stothert said. “After thorough analysis of current and future city law enforcement needs, Chief Schmaderer and I set a goal to increase the number of police officers, and we did it. Our 2019 budget authorizes 902 officers, a record high. To even open this precinct, we needed to first be able to hire and train new officers. Developing these strategies for the city’s needs helps prepare us for long-term commitment to the city and the safety of our citizens and officers.”
With the newest facility up and running, not only will the uniformed patrol bureau be located within the West Precinct, but it will also provide a home base for two other entities: the Emergency Response Unit and the Traffic Unit. The West Precinct will host uniformed patrol officers, SWAT team officers, Bomb Unit officers and Traffic Unit officers. Emergency Response members will not be completely based within the facility, but will respond to the precinct as needed, as the building houses the vehicles that were located at other stations across the city.
“This is a tremendous increase in space for us,” said Lt. Jay Leavitt, leader of the Emergency Response Unit. “Over at the Millard Traffic Station, we had to double stack vehicles; even if we didn’t need the MERV (Mobile Emergency Response Vehicle), we still had to pull it out before getting to the vehicle we needed. Here, each vehicle has its own bay, with plenty of room for loading equipment and maintenance. This building here replaces three separate facilities we needed before.”
The SWAT van, bomb truck and about 16 motorcycles were originally parked at the Millard Traffic Station, while the mobile command unit sat at the airport; now, all of these vehicles are located within the West Precinct. With the move from the Millard Traffic Station, officers have mentioned that the Millard station will be available soon for any sort of city use.
After the ribbon was cut and tours were given, Schmaderer and Stothert said that they are both very satisfied that the West Precinct is finally open to help support the western part of the city.
“I’m very proud of this precinct,” Schmaderer said. “Now that it’s in play, it just caps off the coverage plan for our city. This location will provide uniform coverage from the west to the Interstate; it accounts for future growth, it’s well-positioned for many years to come and it provides an economy of scale. We don’t need separate buildings for several entities; we can all be located under one roof.”
“This is something that has been in the works since Hal Daub was mayor in the late 90s and early 2000s,” Stothert said. “For the last six years, we’ve made significant progress toward a safer city. This was a lot of work and effort, but we were able to design an efficient building that holds several different organizations and teams. It’s not only good for West Omaha, but for all of Omaha. It’s just fantastic to see the precinct become a reality; to finally achieve something that has been discussed for two decades. It’s a great addition to this side of town.”
