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Training Division moves into St. Johns' former town hall. Heritage Society Museum fate unclear. What of the much talked about 'community room'?

~ Cornelius Swart

Training Division almost all moved in

On Friday, June 19, I made an unannounced visit to the St. Johns Historic Town Hall, aka North Precinct, or what the Portland Police Bureau calls "The North Building." Currently the term North Precinct now refers to former Northeast Precinct at 449 NE Emerson at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. (precinct map download)  Lt. Sara Westbrooke was nice enough to give me a tour of "The North Building."  The Training Division is almost completely moved in. 

There are two sides to the Training Division, one for new recruits, the other for veteran officers.  "We haven't all been together in years," said Westbrook.

The building is not a training center. It houses just the administrative offices for the Training Division.  Training classrooms are currently located in the former Southeast Precinct "community room," which is now primarily the Traffic Division building.

Most of the rooms in the defunct North Precinct building are now occupied by cubicles and computer terminals for the 28 to 30 officer/administrators who will occupy the building Monday through Thursday Friday.  The front desk should be open most days, Monday to Friday, 8am-5pm.  The front desk staffing is still being sorted out.

The men's locker room has been removed and now there is one unisex locker room, the roll call room on the second floor has been converted to cubicles.  In the basement, the holding cell remains and two desks have been retained for active patrol officers to do paperwork.  Another separate room remains for the administering of breathalyzer tests.  Additionally a large video display and media space is currently being wired in the basement.

Westbrook speculated that the building should be up and running in another week or so.

Fate of the Heritage Society unclear

The fate of the St. Johns Heritage Society space and the talked-about "community office," where civic groups like neighborhood and business associations and a St. Johns foot patrol might set up a presence, is still unclear.

Currently the heritage society space is untouched and will remain as is.  The group meets the last Wednesday of the month at 10:30am in a small meeting room that houses its display cases/museum.

"I spoke with the commander [old North Precinct Commander Donna Henderson], she came to our meeting and said the room would be open to the community," said heritage society maven Norma Reagan. “No one from the police has contacted us to reassure us.”

Testimony from St. Johns residents claims Mayor Sam Adams promised that the town hall would be open to the community.  Conflicting accounts since then have put that claim into question and are being tracked down.  The Sentinel has yet to get a statement from the PPB (calls in), or  Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman's office (call pending, giving PPB opportunity to make statement).

Westbrook could not make a statement on behalf of the Training Division or PPB.  She personally believed that the room was to remain open to the heritage society, which only uses it one day a month.  However, she thinks the space was probably also needed as a conference and meeting room for administrative officers/staff. 

"They're pretty packed in there," said Tom Stubblefield, owner of Stubblefield Paint. "I talk with the officers a lot."

However, Westbrook did claim that the heritage society records had been consolidated and given their own space in the attic with the other Training Division files.

Community Room  to spare?

It seems unlikely that the heritage society would be forced to move, but the fate of any future community room remains to be seen.  The Sentinel advocated for such a space in March. Westbrook noted that currently the Training Division saw their own uses for the space and currently were crammed into the building.  However, the building is essentially vacant Friday, Saturday and Sunday because the Training Division only operates Monday through Thursday. 

More reports to come.