Diego Santiago
The new Pierce College Sheriff’s Station is up and running in a facility that will accommodate personnel of the force on campus.
The new station is located between the Men’s Gym and the tennis courts and was roughly completed last week.
“We expect a vast improvement with this new location,” said Sgt. Martinez. “We are happy to finally have running water and working toilets.”
Other improvements were made to this new building. Offices, break rooms and computers are now available inside the facility along with other amenities.
Full operations began on Friday as a busy staff was finishing up the final touches.
“We have been operating normally since Friday,” said Team Leader Sheriff’s Deputy Jeanine Swanson. “Even though we still have to finish a to-do list, there is nothing major to prevent us from running operations from this station.”
The station will still be running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and although there are no holding cells inside, people can still be detained.
“The detainees will eventually be transported to the Lost Hills or Downtown stations and later be prosecuted,” added Swanson.
In fact, all of the new renovations and technology acquired were made possible thanks to Proposition 1D.
It was passed in last year’s general election and funded over $10 billion to aid colleges throughout California. The funds not only helped build the station but other facilities are being improved throughout the campus.
But, Pierce is not the only college with renovations.
Each of the nine L.A. Community Colleges has a sheriff’s station but most campuses house their staff in already existing school buildings or in temporary trailers, much like Pierce was just doing a couple weeks ago.
But upgrades to each and every community college are expected to start soon.
Valley College was recently the first to build a permanent L.A. County Sheriff’s station in the district. Pierce followed almost immediately. There has been no mention of any open house or official inauguration.
The new Sheriffs station is equipped with new computers, break rooms and offices as well as detainment facilities. (David Salpeter)