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WILTON PD-TOWN HALL PROJECT

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WHY DO WILTON POLICE NEED A NEW BUILDING?

The Wilton Police Department headquarters was built in 1974 for a 25 person all male police force and one dispatcher who used pen, paper, one typewriter and two telephone lines. Today the building must support 48 employees, male and female, and a plethora of technology that could hardly be imagined almost five decades ago. Although renovation and expansion have been a topic of discussion for over 25 years, none have occurred.

This facility has operated 24/7, 365 days a year for 47 years, far exceeding the usage of any other town building. Since its doors opened the police force has almost doubled in size yet not an inch of space has been added to the building. The minimal changes that have been made, ie converting part of a hallway to a female locker room, would not qualify as upgrades. The cramped quarters and poor state of the building make working conditions difficult for the men and women who serve and protect us.

This WPD headquarters is inefficient, deficient in multiple areas and its maintenance and repair costs have escalated for years. The inadequate space for people, technology, equipment and evidence affects the WPD's day to day operations. The outdated, inadequate infrastructure affects safety, comfort and expenses. The pandemic and its related protocols have only highlighted the building's severe shortcomings and limitations.

The WPD building's deficiencies are serious and numerous:

The building is non-compliant with multiple state and federal requirements.
Its HVAC and other infrastructure is mostly original and breaks frequently.
* Overcrowding is severe.
* Locker rooms and lavatories are inadequate and in some cases inoperable.
* The firearms training facility is nonfunctional and firearms storage is deficient.

The Police-Town Hall Building Committee has been working toward a solution to these problems. After evaluating multiple alternatives presented by Tecton Architects, in December 2019 new construction, as opposed to renovation and expansion, was recommended to the Board of Selectmen because of its superior cost effectiveness. At that time the committee had hoped to bring the proposed solution to a referendum at the May 2020 Annual Town Meeting but that opportunity was lost because of the project's extended hiatus (March 2020-August 2021) due to the pandemic. The BOS subsequently requested that the recommended design be scaled back and granted formal approval for a smaller building in October 2021.

Early 2022 is the target for holding a Special Town Meeting for a referendum on the proposed new police building.

Prior to that vote you may view the conceptual drawings online, and keep an eye on our Upcoming Events to find out when and where they can be viewed in person as well as for information on the public hearing. Dates and times of scheduled tours of the WPD building will also be found there, but if you'd prefer to take a look from your own phone or pc, See Inside... will show you just a few of the building's many shortcomings.

We hope you will take advantage of the abundance of information on this site-- take a look inside the building, review the history of the project, examine detailed building evaluations and more--to better understand why a new police building is direly needed.