The Police Department at San Jacinto College Central Campus left the space it occupied for decades in the student center Nov. 1 to move to a newly built facility at 3802 Luella Blvd.

William Taylor, Chief of the San Jacinto College Police (SJPD) said the new location will better meet state requirements and will accommodate the 41 positions necessary to support all three San Jac campuses.

“The idea is that we are building a real police facility. We are building one that should hold – take care of the department for forty years,” Taylor said.

SJPD Investigative Sergeant Federico Cruz said the new space provides an opportunity for growth.

“We are tripling in size as far as our department. Our evidence room will be top of the line, and as for our dispatch area, all the new technology that’s available will be in this unit,” Cruz said.

The department is moving from limited accommodations to a more organized space with divided work areas, a lobby, a conference room, and a training area that better serve the staff, Taylor said.

“The college itself is changing its awareness of what we need to be doing and has called upon us to do it more effectively,” Taylor said. “It’s not practical to have a facilities operation or even a police department in most cases, right in the middle of the campus.

“For one thing, for us with our vehicles, we’ve had an ongoing problem. We park over here on the other side by the loading dock, and it’s difficult when we have deliveries. There’s times we can’t get police vehicles in and out,” he said.

Taylor said the move will not affect students’ ability to reach the police department.

Furthermore, he said police officers are patrolling on bikes and walking the campus on a regular while campus and emergency phones available across each campus.

“You’ve got your blue light phones out in the parking lot. They are the yellow towers in the parking lots and by the edges of the building areas. There are blue light emergency phones in every elevator on each campus that rings directly into the police department,” Taylor said.

Telecommunications Supervisor and twenty-six-year department veteran Annette Stewart said she also welcomes the move and is pleased with the building, and the new updates.

“One thing I am really excited about is the phone for the hearing impaired. We are expanding that for people who would be in emergency situations and can’t call us, but can text us,” Stewart said. “We also have a new Facebook page.”

“Many changes have taken place the last three years at the police station, moving into the new building will just be a better use of our service,” Taylor said.