MANY OF THE SUBSTATIONS installed look like a fortress. Unfortunately, there are times the substations are unmanned. I knocked on the doors at Blatchely Avenue and nobody was home. I can imagine similar stories elsewhere. Replace the translucent windows so people can look in and out, while youre at it take the locks off the doors so an officer needs to be stationed 24/7 at each substation. C'mon Mayor Harp, it's time to take community policing to the next level.

hmmm looks like my post was deleted.. I suggested that call boxes be installed on the outside, that would ring inside, and, if no one is inside, would ring to the main number.

It would have been nicer if you had taken a photo of the front of the substation instead of the rear. If you would like to know more about the substations, please ask me. I was the architect and they won a design award and have been very successful.
Robert F. Roscow, AIA

Robert, the substations are not inviting looking. They are more brutalist structures of a design area about 20+ years or so ago. Am I correct? New Urbanism calls for a more interactive human experience. Perhaps if there are any redesigning efforts taking place you can once again work on the buildings. Are you listening to the opinions of the residents during this post? We don't have any awards to give out, were just the actual people that get to use your designed structures. You may want to take in this constructive criticism.

Hi Robert,
That is the front if you are walking West on Edgewood. In no way did I mean to offend your talents.

There are different definitions of success and different ways of achieving success. I'd be curious what you were optimizing for with the design. What were the goals at the time? Do you feel that if it was designed today there might be different goals?

Thanks for engaging.

BB

I googled your name and landed on NyTimes article Robert. You were quoted in the article as saying, "They serve more as an outpost."
I totally understand the sentiment of building military like outposts insulated by community activities in the early 90's on Kensington Street. I just wonder as I walk the neighborhood everyday if that structure is still relevant beyond the rein of the Latin Kings.

The term 'outpost' does have a more military defense connotation than 'community substation'. There are more than one in New Haven,, so the Latin Kings was not the priority in mind, but was one consideration. The one on the corner of Blatchley and Grand use to have a large empty space around it,, and a community garden, and community activities.. Farnam Neighborhood House used that space and well as Centro San Jose. Later that space was used to rebuild the school that is at the other end of the block. I'm afraid your history is a bit backwards in thinking that New Haven is more friendly and social now than then.. no.. the opposite is true. New Haven has been pretty neglected as a community and the streets look terrible, the type people that we see at the Green has changed, from white collar business to dirty collar loiterer.

Also, in the 90's the Latin Kings were our worst fear,, but today it is terrorism,, and one of the major targets for terrorists are the police.... so we have more need to protect our cops than before.. as long as they are not our oppressors themselves.

I'm looking at the photo again,, and.. I think planting some nice warm looking plants would help. It looks like the photo was taken in winter.. no leaves on the trees, and no plants. It's spring now.. how about some greenery. and, yes, this is the back.. the front should have a door and a car there and a driveway.

Our police force, in general, needs to be more "New Urbanization", the police themselves need to look less like hostile occupiers and more like positive community members. That's a political thing , led by the Union head.. Cavalieri.. they hated community policing and have defended abuses.. The starion reflects current City attitudes.. and that I can appreciate as a good point in this message.

Unless the substations are manned 24/7, I would not like to see open windows and friendlier facades. It would be an invitation to vandalism of the worst kind. Planter boxes and flowers are a nice touch to soften the exterior appearance, but when you are inside meeting with police officers or having a group meeting, you tend to better appreciate the 'fortress' qualities of the building, especially when you live in neighborhoods where gunfire is an issue. The stations are used by officers assigned to those districts as places to do paperwork, use lavatory facilities and to meet local individuals who may have an issue/complaint but don't want an officer coming to their doorstep (for purposes of anonymity). Some stations are used by small community groups to hold meetings; youth groups meet there; tutoring takes place there ... they are safe places. I think their purpose is much more important than their perception. Placing a call box to NHPD dispatch outside the structure near the doorbell and a camera (with live feed to monitor inside and recorded video) is a great idea that would be helpful when it is unmanned. And I would prefer they NOT be manned by an officer .. who would better serve the community by being OUT in the community instead of IN a substation at a desk.

Hill Resident, I have been inside one of those substations many times. There was a call box outside that first rang to inside and then rolled over to headquarters if no one was inside. I agree with most of the uses that you list, except the 'anonymity' part.. It's actually easier to explain why the cops knocked at your door than to explain why you went there.

As far as who staffs them.. the District Manage was the main staffer, along with a civilian and a couple of onduty officers . Now they usually find a spot behind somewhere to sit in their patrol cars idly,, so I disagree that they are more productive reading a newspaper in back of some location where they are more difficult to locate by citizenry than at the substation. The word 'substation' means a full station in a secondary location. You don't spend that much money on a place for cops to pee.

I am a beliver in 'community policing' and am sorry that has gone by the wayside in favor of actually more tendency to widen the gap between the community and the combat boot wearing shielded military man. It's also better psychologically for the police to feel part of the community than to feel like the Rambo that is called in to jump on the bad guy, bouncer type cop.

I totally disagree that 'friendlier' invites 'vandalism of the worst kind'. Actually, the opposite is true. When the neighborhood feels like this is part of their community, and there to help them, there is less chance of vandalism than when they feel like it's an invasion and occupation by a hostiel force.

I think they can be and should be improved . And that is not the front.

There are so many things in the Downtown area that need improvement and that are being neglected that there has to be some prioritizing. Are you willing to pay for renovations on the substations? Are you willing to pay for the repairs of streets and sidewalks that need to be done? So many things.. When the things that have higher priorities get done then we can beautify the substations.

Take your pick . of substation .. Dwight, Newhallville, Dixwell, the Hill -- they all look pretty darn brutal to me. And I suspect that is the same for the other less affluent arear of the city. If one of the main uses for the substations is as a convenient meeting space for neighborhood groups etc., then the spaces need to become more inviting and appropriate to that function. Otherwise, they do remind me of small convenient jailhouses. That's not my ides of comm,unity policing!

razzie, they were used for some meetings. Have you ever been inside? Granted that they are not like a Taft Hotel meeting room. I said that there is no more community policing.. they got rid of Pastore and have another chief now, and another mayor who are into more brutal type of policing.

I think the bottom line here is that this mayor and this police chief are just not going to bother to renovate them and that is that,, so, although your aesthetic point may be correct, it is a moot aesthetic point and you are wasting your time thinking they are going to beautify them any more than plant some flowers. Look at our City's main attraction.. the Green.. have you seen it lately? That needs beautifying too,, look at the front of City Hall.. decrepit and sorely in need of beautification.. if they don't care about that then they are not going to beautify a substation in a backwoods neighborhood that no tourist is going to see and no Yalie is going to trod upon.

Like,, get real. Yes, the substations need beautifying, but so does this whole City that looks more and more like an abandoned mill town all the time.

Where is the Darth Vader tank that visits Wooster Square for family events?
I think it would add to the decor.

Darth Vader tanks.. very trendy.

The writer seems to be putting the onus on the police department, as if they have a department architect on staff. Wasn't "brutelism" a form of design thought up by the best and the brightest
of the new urbanism of 40 to 50 years ago? You remember the geniuses that came up with the East Rock Middle School, The New Haven Colusium, the now Knights of Columbus Museum and the "brilliant" Yale School of Archictecture. Designs so brilliant that millions where spent to corrrect over the past 15 years.

If anyone had asked the PD for suggestions when these buildings were thought up, it was undoubtedly a thankfully retired Captain who spoke for us. The sub-stations served the needs of beat officers when we needed to type reports. I suppose they still do. The problem is (was, and likely will be forever) that no one ever asks the officers. Do you think it's comforting sitting under the grey glow of fluorescent lights in a cinder and glass block box. No. it isn't and I suspect it isn't any more comfortable for our community members. I'm not sure how many dollars were handed out to erect these things but I don't think it was well spent. An example was the tens of thousands wasted on horse paddocks that were designed without consulting a stable-master (we had one then). The horses were terrified, wouldn't enter them because of their design and resulted in one seriously injuring herself in an attempt to escape. I share the general sentiment of those who've commented before me. Make the substations a pleasant place to gather and work. Consult the people who live in the neighborhoods and the officers who have to work from them. Why don't we involve the artistic talents of some of our city high school students. Perhaps an aesthetics design competition (we can leave the structural and engineering stuff to the pros) I also agree that there should be some more debate on the priority any changes should take. perhaps there are some more pressing issues the city's money could better support at this time.

Officer Hartman, my father wrote up his reports in the patrol car, no need for an office or substation just to write up reports. No, they were to be community policing substations. The District manager used it for his base in the community. Some of the uses were similar to the community fire station.. if you need help quickly, it should be there..

You are right about the 'grey glow' , fluorescent lights, and the type windows that only let in distorted light that isn't helpful for knowing what is going on outside. Part of that was for safety, and part was for confidentiality. The basic design of the interiors is good, but it could be done in nicer colors , lighting.. the atmosphere affects you guys too. It doesn't have to look like a CSI interrogation room.

I and my group used the Blatchley Ave one when the surrounding area was a community garden, so it was a community thing. We knew the district manage, who used it as his base, and it helped him to have a good rapport with the community. We could talk to him about what was happening in the community, and it didn't look like it was only a bunker then. They were more pleasant places to gather and work,, until they were abandoned for all uses except pit stops.

I don't think this is a project to involve high school kids in,, haha,, but maybe college.

The money was well spent at the time. We had community policing and this put centers in neighborhoods for that. I doubt if you feel that you are 'one' with the community from your office at Union St. , or thst we know who you are and feel that we have a friend in you. Today is different, with community policing gone and no desire to be other than a military presence.

Of course, Officer Hartman,, you are the public relations person in the department, and we , at least I, understand your perspective. It would be good to get those officers who are hiding in patrol cars in the back of empty parking lots, and vacant properties back into the substations.

I just noticed this on another post:

Kimberly Square Cleanup
Wed., April 20th from 11 am-2 pm
We will start at the Substation (410 Howard)
Dept. of Public Works, LCI and Economic Development to assist
Community Service hours will be recorded for students
contact/RSVP: ceyzaguirre@newhavenct.gov

There ya go.

Anonymous, I'm not writing as the department's PIO. I'm writing as an officer who used sub-stations for years and I applaud your fathers use of a squad car to write reports. In this case, I'm talking about the beat officers. They don't have a car to write in. Our reports are no longer allowed to be hand written or traditionally typed. They must be entered into a computer. Those exist in a cruiser's front seat or a sub-station so there's no choice, I'm afraid, unless we start issuing each officer tablets.

My suggestion to include HS students was for the aesthetic design phase and to engage the community. Perhaps we could open it up to others. I at least suggest the people living around the buildings should have some say as to how they look (And they don't need to all look the same). Add a community garden as you'd mentioned. Anything to make them more inviting.

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