Chief Lando says the project is on budget.
New Frederick Police Headquarter on East All Saints Street. . (Photo from Banta Campbell Architects)
(Frederick, Md (KM) The final touches are being made on the former William Donald Schaefer Building in downtown Frederick as it’s being converted into a new police headquarters. Police Chief Jason Lando gave an update during a recent appearance on WFMD”s “Morning News Express.” “There’s going to be like little unexpected expenses and stuff. There was some repairs to the building that we didn’t anticipate that needed to be made. But right now we’re on budget,” he says.
Chief Lando also says the opening date is either on, before, or after June 1st, and there will be an open house for the public to visit this new headquarters. “There’s going to be something for our staff, and there’s also going to be a community open house so the public will have a chance to walk through it,” he says.
“We’re still waiting for some technology to arrive that has been ordered. Once it gets here, it has to be installed. It’s access control devices. We can’t flip the switch and turn the building on until that stuff arrives,” he says. “But structurally, when you walk through it, it almost complete.”
The new facility at 100 East All Saints Street is a four-story, 65,000-square-foot building. It will replace the cramped quarters at the County Court House.
Chief Lando says this new building is in a perfect location in downtown Frederick. “We don’t have precincts. We don’t have communities neighborhoods around a city that have a police station. So I thought we just need to be as accessible and as centrally located as possible. And what better place than in the heart of downtown,” he says.
It would put many employees in one location. “Right now, we have detectives that work across the street. We have some administrative staff that works in another building. Our dispatchers are out at the LEC, the Law Enforcement Center. This new building is going to be big enough and have all he resources to bring everybody in house,”: he says.
And the Chief says it will give him a chance to get to know his staff a little better. “I’d love face-time with our staff. But sometimes it’s just tough for me in day to drive out to the Law Enforcement Center to say ‘hi’ to the dispatchers, and then drive to another location. This will be a matter of the leadership being just able to walk through the building, talk to people, say ‘hi.’ So we’ll be more connected,” he says.
The City of Frederick purchased the building in 2021 for use as a police headquarters.
By Kevin McManus