Campus police station moves down street
The University of Indianapolis campus police station was relocated to 1643 Hanna Ave. from the Schwitzer Student Center at the beginning of 2011-2012 academic year.
The university police department still offers the same services with the exception of the relocation of the lost and found, which is now located in the Student Business Center, in Schwitzer 207.
“We started the moving process about two weeks before school started,” said Sgt. Hailey Padgett. “The physical plant did a good job redesigning it to fit our needs.”
There are several reason that the police station had to be relocated.
According to Padgett, space always was a big concern and an inconvenience for the campus police officers.
With the enrollment of students reaching record highs each year and the addition of new officers, the department was struggling to accommodate to the increase.
“We try to be very accessible on campus, but there just isn’t any space,” Padgett said. “The campus is growing and we’re growing there’s just isn’t enough space to accommodate us anymore.”
The physical plant was in charge of the majority of the planning, redesign and execution of this project, along with the Space Planning Committee.
“I’m in the Space Planning Committee,” said Ken Piepenbrink, director of the physical plant. “We meet about several times a year to discuss the university’s needs and shift things around if need be.”
The Space Planning Committee, led by University of Indianapolis President Beverley Pitts, made the decision to move the police department from the Schwitzer Student Center in January of 2011.
The move was completed in August of 2011.
The new facility includes interview rooms, locker rooms for the officers, a more spacious squad room and several other spaces for more efficient work.
“The new interview rooms, for example, are now solely used for interviews,” Padgett said. “Before, we had to ask everyone to leave the squad room so we could interview a student privately. Now we can provide more privacy for the student.”
Dean of Students Kory Vitangeli sent out an e-mail notification to all the student body, faculty and staff informing the change.
“Student are slowly coming in,” Padgett said. “People will call and ask, ‘Where are you guys located’ and we just provide them directions.”
The police department plans to have an open house for all UIndy students, faculty, staff and the general public. The dates are yet to be determined but the event is scheduled to take place some time during the fall semester.
“PFS offered to help us cater. We’ll show you our new rooms, as well as tell everyone the services we provide to the community,” Padgett said. “We’re very proud of it.”
The house where the police station is now located was originally going to be brought down in order to make more parking space to accommodate commuter students.
According to Piepenbrink, the space became available, and the police department needed a more spacious environment.
The committee went ahead and proposed the plan in front of the board for consideration.
“We [the Space Planning Committee] decided to move the B.U.I.L.D. center, which was originally located inside Cravens Hall, to the Schwitzer Center where the old police department used to be and give the police department the house on the corner of Hanna Avenue,” Piepenbrink said.
Chief of Police Michael Reddick had previously expressed a need for space and problems with the police communication in the basement of Schwitzer Student Center.
“The new police station gives them rooms to expand, gives them visibility to campus and gives the police station more presence for people coming to campus to let people know that we have police services on campus,” Piepenbrink said.
The project cost about $200,000 in remodeling. The house is 1,870 square feet, an increase of 1,000 square feet from the previous location.
“I enjoy making old things look good and fit in the university’s plans and utilize space,” Piepenbrink said.
The new police station is located on the south side of Hanna Avenue, on the corner of State Street across from the stadium.
