Wednesday, June 21, 2006
In the coming weeks, the University of Kansas Public Safety Office will move to a location that will allow the department more operating space. The move is scheduled to be completed within the next few months.
The KU Public Safety Office has begun moving into its new offices in the former Printing Services building.
Ralph V. Oliver, Chief/Director for the Public Safety Office, said the current building, Carruth-O’Leary Hall, is not big enough to fit all of the needs of the department. The Public Safety Office will occupy what was the Printing Services building, on Bob Billings Parkway and Crestline Drive on west campus.
Oliver said the move was about needing more room.
“There’s more space than there is here,” Oliver said.
Oliver said that he approached the Provost office approximately five years ago with the hopes that Public Safety could relocate. He said that it was simply a matter of good timing when the Printing building closed.
Oliver said that the new building would accommodate a variety of needs that Carruth-O’Leary could not meet.
The new offices for the KU Public Safety Office will be located in the old Printing Services building, 2502 Westbrook Circle, just off of Bob Billings Parkway and Crestline Dr.
The new building will have interview rooms for suspects, an evidence room, and an equipment room. He also said it would have a “community outreach room” where both private enterprises and members of the public can make presentations concerning matters that the office deals with. The current building has no space for training the office’s employees.
Oliver said that the new building would be more accessible during later hours.
“We work 24 hours a day,” Oliver said.
One new amenity that members of the office are excited about is not so obvious, however.
“The first thing that most people in the office are excited about is there is more parking,” Oliver said.
Carruth-O’Leary Hall has only one parking lot, which is designated for patrol cars. Visitors have to find parking that isn’t directly associated with the building.
Mark L. Reiske, R.A., Associate Director of Budget and Design Production, said that when the public has a problem late at night, it can be difficult to reach the office in Carruth-O’Leary. He said that in the new building, there will be a monitored lobby that will be open late, whereas citizens now have to call before they can be admitted into the office.
He said that the department had to have all of its telecommunications, including servers, alarms and security cameras, running before a move could take place.
“Until that’s operational, they really can’t move,” he said.
Reiske said that the new building would still be accessible to the public, even though it wouldn’t be as centrally located on campus. The office will be along a bus route for students and there will be parking available for visitors.
Oliver said that once the department decides on a precise date for the switch, they will begin to advertise through local media outlets.
Also occupying the Printing Services building will be the department of entomology, according to Reiske. Carruth-O’Leary will eventually be torn down and replaced by a new facility that will house the School of Business, according to Reiske. No timetable has been set for that action.
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