By Ana Ley
The San Antonio Express-News
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The city’s police and fire dispatch staffers moved into their new building this week, and officials hope the switch will improve communications between both agencies.
The 40,000-square-foot building replaces the 911 center at the Police Department’s downtown headquarters, which will be demolished and replaced with a new federal courthouse facility later this year.
The dispatch facility at 8039 Challenger Drive in Brooks City-Base cost $28.4 million, including equipment and furnishings.
Morning staffers moved in about 2 a.m. Sunday while night employees remained at the old location to prevent interruptions, Fire Department spokeswoman Deborah Foster said.
Each building housed eight call takers and eight dispatchers until 9 a.m., when the old facility was vacated.
Foster said there were “minor technical issues” during the transition but they were quickly resolved.
By putting Fire and Police department employees in the same room, the new facility will allow them to communicate more efficiently, officials said.
At the old location, the agencies were separated by a hallway.
“If issues come up, (employees) don’t have to run next door,” Foster said. “It’s also a state-of-the-art facility. Things aren’t going to break down.”
The dispatch center also will allow police and fire supervisors to sit near each other, Deputy City Manager Erik Walsh said.
“In serious situations, you don’t want a wall dividing Police and Fire departments,” Walsh said. “On any given day, there are plenty of times where being able to have that communication would help.”
The facility was built in such a way that walls could easily be torn down to make room for future expansion, he said.
“We didn’t have ability to grow in the previous facility,” Walsh said.
The new police and fire headquarters is expected to be completed this year across the street from the Police Department’s current location.
The $89.7 million facility - which initially was projected to cost about $100 million - is scheduled to open its doors in September, Walsh said.
That site will have a six-story office building as headquarters for the Fire and Police departments and a nine-story parking garage. It will house administrative offices, investigative units and support services for both departments.
The Fire Department’s current headquarters will be turned into office space for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.
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