22 November 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – The City of Wichita is moving forward with a new Patrol West station for the Wichita Police Department.
The old one on Central near Interstate 235 is dated and lacks space.
KSN toured the current station on Tuesday.
“As you can see, we have leaks in the ceiling,” said West Patrol Captain Ronald Hunt with WPD. “We have certainly overgrown this facility. And I’ve got boxes upon boxes just sitting everywhere.”
Captain Hunt says while the 1991 building Patrol West shares with the Wichita Fire Department has been maintained, it does have a serious space issue.
There are ammunition rounds stored in locked lockers in the restroom area. There is a taser storage area in a utility room. And there are makeshift storage areas throughout the facility.
“And, initially, this was designed to house about 30 officers,” said Captain Hunt. “Now we have over 100 on rotation. Not all at the same time.”
Hunt says the new location for a west patrol substation will benefit response times. As the west side of Wichita has grown, the need for officers is on the rise. The new land that is being purchased for the west station will be off 13th Street and Tyler.
“So it’s strategically located. It’s a perfect piece of land,” said Hunt. “If we’re able to move our location more centrally to where everyone has access to it, plus our response times are quicker to the locations, in the grand scheme of things, that benefits everybody.”
The land purchase will be about $450,000, and the total cost of the project is expected to be nearly $11 million.