El Centro unveils new $51.5 million police headquarters

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA) - The City of El Centro celebrated a historic milestone on Thursday night, officially cutting the ribbon on a brand-new, $51.5 million police department headquarters.

City officials, local residents, and law enforcement departments from across the Imperial Valley gathered along 11th Street, near Main Street, to commemorate the completion of the modern, two-building facility.

For decades, the El Centro Police Department operated out of an aging facility that originally housed the city's Chamber of Commerce.

The newly completed campus marks a massive technological and structural leap forward, trading inadequate space for a facility built to serve the community for generations to come.

"Tonight it is a proud moment," said El Centro Police Deputy Chief Rene McNish. "It's a proud moment for our department, our city, and the community we serve."

The grand opening carried deep personal significance for some of the city's top leadership. Both El Centro Mayor Michael Crankshaw and City Manager Robert Sawyer spent decades serving within the ranks of the police department long before stepping into their current roles.

"I'm not gonna lie... I got a little bit emotional," Sawyer shared during the ceremony. "I started here when I was 16 years old, so I grew up in what was the old police department."

Mayor Crankshaw echoed those sentiments, reflecting on his own law enforcement career in the valley.

"I spent 26 years not in this, but in that first one over there," Crankshaw said. "I am so happy for all the employees, a little bit jealous for all the employees that get to work in this beautiful building."

Bringing the state-of-the-art facility to reality was a years-long effort that spanned multiple city councils, administrative changes, and police chiefs.

"This project was carried by more than one city council, more than one chief of police, and more than one city manager," noted Public Works Director Abraham Campos. "Staff changed priorities, were tested along the way, but the goal stayed the same."

The finished campus introduces several major features never before seen in the area, providing law enforcement personnel with critical resources to combat modern crime.

"An indoor shooting range, the first in the valley for a law enforcement agency, and then we have a real-time crime center," El Centro Police Chief Kelly Brown said. "We also have some interview rooms that are off the lobby, so if somebody comes in to make a report and they need to speak to a police officer in private, they have that opportunity now, whereas we didn't have it before."

The massive $51.5 million capital project was largely funded by Measure P, a half-cent sales tax approved by El Centro voters in 2016, and supplemented by impact fees and asset forfeiture funds.

City leaders emphasized that the department is delivering on a decade-old promise made to the community.

"We work for the community and they entrusted us with a lot of money. They entrusted us with their hard-earned money, and today, we're delivering those commitments," Sawyer said. "What we stand here today and tell you will come into fruition in two, three, four, ten and 20 years from now, and that's a commitment that the city of El Centro has made."

With the physical infrastructure now complete, city leaders are already pivoting from building the headquarters to staffing it.

While Measure P proved what local voter support can build, city officials are hoping residents will trust them again this November.

El Centro voters will decide on Measure T on the upcoming ballot, a new half-cent sales tax proposal aimed at securing the revenue needed to hire more personnel and fully pack the new headquarters.