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History of the St. Helens Police Station
Built in 1971 and now 50 years old, the St. Helens Police Station is approximately 2,200 square feet of office space with a wood-framed detached garage. The population of St. Helens back in 1971 was 6,200 people, less than half the size of our city today. The station was built for a police force that didn't handle digital data or face active shooters, school shootings, online child pornography, or the opioid and mental health crises of today.
In 1988, Chief Reggie Bowles built a new garage that is currently attached to the Police Station, with an agreement of the City Council at that time that the police were already rapidly outgrowing their 1971 building. A second story was originally thought of and planned for. It was intended to add an additional 7,300 square feet of office space. It never came to fruition, though, due to budget constraints.
In the early 1990s, Chief Roger Roth undertook the project to add a second floor to the garage. In 1996, the City finally moved forward enough to receive an estimate of around $300,000 for the addition. The project faltered and Chief Roth left the position. It is believed that when the proposal was shown to the City Council, it was at a time when the economy was not the best and the City again was looking to trim its budget.
In 2000, Mike Cocklin, the chief at that time, took the project on again. Faced again with shrinking workspace due to growth of our city and the police force, Chief Cocklin hired an architect to look at the building and come back with a new plan. The results of the updated plan added square footage to total 13,300sf based on the current department size and anticipated growth. A plan for a second, adjacent building was drafted. It moved away from the second-story idea because it was believed that the garage would not seismically support a second story. The cost estimate for the new addition in 2000 was estimated to be around $3 million. Staff and City Council reviewed the proposal but again decided not to pursue the project due to the high cost and worrisome future of economic trends at the time.
In 2007, the City once again reviewed the idea of an additional workspace, again faced with overcrowding and growth. At this time a similar detached building concept was developed that was even smaller than before, adding only an additional 5,300 square feet. The estimated cost of the project was just over $2 million. The timing, however, was marked by another economic recession and the addition did not come to fruition.
It wasn't until 2019 that the St. Helens Police took up the idea as it currently exists. Pressed by current conditions of dealing with a failing police station and bursting at the seams with additional administrative staff and officers to keep up with our rapidly growing community, current Chief Brian Greenway and City administrative staff started reviewing the ideas again. City Council and community members know that waiting is not an option; we must act now to keep our community safe and invest in the future.
