To the editor:

On the Lawrence Police Department proposal for a new facility. As a retired architect, I have found that most of the problems are fixable without spending anywhere near $28 million or even building a new facility.

I toured the facility in west Lawrence where the officer who gave me a tour pointed out several things, including that the facility is not fully occupied, and I wondered, why not? If they made use of that space, it would increase their facility size tremendously. Many of the problems at that facility could be fixed by renovations rather than by building a brand new facility.

Another claim is the lack of a garage and an emergency generator when those items could be added very easily. Another claim is the lack of separation of employees, witnesses, victims and suspects. In this case, a renovation of the facility could easily solve these problems as well. Roof leaks and plumbing issues only require repairs. Running out of records storage space could be solved by scanning all records, and this would free up a ton of space for other uses and also make records more easily accessible.

These are solutions I noticed right off the bat that make sense to me. Of course, they don’t solve all the problems, but what is proposed on the ballot shows a lack of planning and problem solving. I am not opposed to a proposal which would update or modernize police facilities, I just think this is the wrong plan.