Spokane Valley police department to be renovated in September

Spokane Valley’s police department building at 12710 E. Sprague Ave. will be renovated next month after voters approved higher taxes to pay for more police officers.

The office has been in need of renovation for years. Crowded cubicles fill most of the spaces in the building and, where the cubicles aren’t, there are mounds of bins, boxes and miscellaneous items that don’t have a place to be stored. The locker rooms and gym also are outdated. The gym is about the size of three small bedrooms and has the space for only two or three people to work out at one time, police Chief Dave Ellis said.

After years of no renovations, the police department has received $1.4 million from the city. The remodel will begin in September and finish in January, Deputy City Manager Erik Lamb said. Renovations will be done in two phases, because the police department will continue its usual operations, Lamb said.

“One of our big objectives and outcomes we’re looking for is to reduce response times,” Ellis said.

The remodel is focused on changing the department’s investigative and traffic units, and reorganizing the department layout. The designs addressed the department’s need for more offices and workstations to accommodate additional positions the council has authorized .

The renovations will move the forensics team into a new space, repurpose office space in the traffic and forensics area for the Spokane Valley Investigative Unit, adjust the space for the investigative unit to make room for more patrol lieutenants, move the traffic unit, update the men’s and women’s locker rooms, expand the gym, and create a new storage area for drones and other police equipment.

The department’s holding cells, which are now used as storage, will be demolished to expand the investigative unit to accommodate additional detectives. An office and vestibule in the patrol area of the department will also be demolished in the remodel.

The hope is that as the department grows, police will have more of a presence on the roads and in schools, Ellis said.

This remodel comes after 59% of voters in Spokane Valley approved a 0.1% sales tax increase to boost the police force. The city estimates the new tax will raise at least $2.6 million in 2026. The city will begin receiving funds from the property tax increase on Jan. 1, Lamb said.

The new revenue from the property tax increase could fund at least 10 more officers over the next two years, Ellis said. Right now, Ellis says the department has 118 officers. The department has gaps in its patrol, traffic and investigation units, Ellis said.

The tax increase was placed on the ballot after a study found that Spokane Valley was in need of more police officers. After the study, the city council authorized 10 new deputies without raising any revenues and cutting from other departments.

Once those additional officers were approved by the council, Lamb said the city knew the department would need more office space for lieutenants and detectives.

Lamb said the police department would have been remodeled even if the property tax increase was not approved.

“Public safety is the council’s number one priority,” Lamb said. “We do everything we can to provide the safest city that we possibly can, while being very mindful of people’s money.”

The city council initially saw the remodel design during a meeting in April. The council set aside the funds for the department renovations over the past two years in anticipation for this project.

“This is a fiscally conservative community,” Lamb said. “We want to be responsible with the community’s money, and so we budget conservatively. We could have looked at a brand new building, we could have looked at an expansion – those definitely would have been more expensive.”

Management in the department will temporarily relocate staff as needed during the remodel, said Glenn Ritter, the senior engineer and project manager for public works. It’s possible that some officers will work out of a few temporary locations for a couple months at a time as the department is renovated.

“Spokane Valley has got a long history of supporting public safety, and as a chief of the Spokane Valley Police Department, I really appreciate that,” Ellis said.