Norwich Police holding a series of meeting to advocate for a new station: Why it's needed

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27-03-2025

The Norwich Police Department is working to convince the public it needs a new station in the downtown.
NPD held an educational meeting about the proposed station in the Chelsea Groton Bank building on Wednesday night. Police Chief Patrick Daley explained why the department needs a new building, why the public should support it, and answered the public's questions.
Daley will continue to hold these meetings on the last Wednesdays of the month. While this meeting was held at Norwich City Hall, future ones will be held at both the current police station on Thames Street, so the public can see why it's inadequate, and at the Chelsea Groton Bank building in downtown, so the public can see the potential, he said.
Currently, the project is billed at $50 million. If approved in November, work would start in Spring 2026 and take up to 20 months to complete. If the public waits, the price will continue to climb, Daley said.
A new police station has been a long-standing NPD goal, as the current building on Thames Street is too small. A space for 51 officers is forced to fit 85 officers. Larger facilities would help with expanding services and the recruiting and retention of officers, especially female officers, Daley said.
The current building also can't support an upper level, and expansion to the current station would cost the same amount of money, but yield less building, and the department would still have a bad parking situation, and have to battle an eroding hill, Daley said.
In 2012, the Norwich Police tried to turn the building that is now Reliance Health's Cliff Street office into a police station, but that was defeated because the plan then was overbuilt, Daley said.
While no location was specified in the 2023 attempt to replace the police station, Daley wanted it on Mahan Drive near the Norwich Technical High School. However, skate park would need to be placed elsewhere, and the $44.75 million proposal was rejected by voters on Election Day in 2023, The Bulletin reported Nov. 2023
In December, the Norwich City Council approved the purchase of the Chelsea Groton Bank building in downtown with the intent to use at as the future police station for $800,000. The cost to renovate the building for police department needs would be $49 million. It's the cheapest of the three sites being considered, with redoing Mahan Drive costing $50 million, and a plan for Washington Street costing $57 million, The Bulletin reported in December.
A multitude of improvements will come with a police station at the Chelsea Groton Bank site. It would allow the Police Department to resume downtown bike patrols and give enough space for 120 officers. A downtown police station would also provide the security needed to continue Norwich's economic revitalization, Daley said.
Some features for the officers include more locker space, expanded gym, a partition for booking, and usable spaces for interviewing, as the current interviewing rooms are now used as offices.
Features for the public include a secure meeting space in the front, a small Norwich Police Museum, and office space for local nonprofits, including those for mental health resources, Daley said.
There will even be more and safer holding cells for detainees, including ones designed for individuals in a mental health crisis, Daley said.
One thing the current police station has that the new one won't is an indoor shooting range, so other arrangements will need to be made so officers can practice their firearms. That said, the indoor range often has leaks, Daley said.
If the Norwich Police can't get a new police station, it could lead to fewer officers, less efficiency, and less safety for officers, civilians and prisoners, Daley said.
'There's a tremendous cost to everybody to not do it,' he said.
While U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, State Senator Cathy Osten, and State Reps. Derell Wilson, Doug Dubitsky and Kevin Ryan all support a new Norwich Police station, other state and federal officials will need more convincing, including Governor Ned Lamont, State Senate President Martin Looney, State House Speaker Matt Ritter and U.S. Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, Norwich Resident Tom Bonanno said.
Daley said he aims to get between a third and half of the costs reimbursed by state and federal dollars.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Norwich Police aims to convince public that new station is needed