First District police may soon be on the move in ways that have little to do with the immediate needs of local Police Service Areas. The Metropolitan Police Department and the Office of Property Management plan to build a Consolidated Forensic Lab on the current site of the First District police station and firehouse at 415 Fourth St. SW. To make way for this project, the First District station must relocate, at least temporarily. OPM proposes to move the 1D station into a new facility at 225 Virginia Ave. SE, along with several other MPD units.

Initial timetables call for 1D officers to relocate twice, first to a 10,000 square feet of as-yet-unspecified office space. Construction on the 421,000-square-foot building at 225 Virginia Ave. would start next year with occupancy to begin in late 2009. In order to keep the Consolidated Forensic Lab construction on schedule, however, OPM says 1D must leave its current location by early 2009, necessitating the swing space. The CFL is scheduled for completion in 2011.

The 240,000-square-foot CFL will combine the MPD's forensic lab, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and a public health lab. It would house about 550 employees and enable the District to conduct its own forensic work, such as DNA testing, for the first time; currently, such work is farmed out to federal labs, negatively affecting DC investigations.

Construction of the new lab will be "from the ground up" to meet the latest standards for ventilation and other safety factors; "an adaptive reuse," such as that planned for 225 Virginia Ave., is considered more difficult.

Once the printing plant for the Washington Post and Star papers, 225 Virginia Ave. is slated to house MPD's headquarters and additional police units – Detectives, Violent Crimes, Narcotics and Special Investigations, Property and Evidence, and Special Operations – as well as the relocated 1D station, for a total of 1,100 employees. Combining functions would streamline operations, according to MPD and OPM, while accommodating units that are losing leases in the next few years. Violent Crimes' lease, for example, expires in 2008, while the city's lease on its current evidence storage facility has already expired, according to OPM Director Lars Etzkorn.

Rushed but not "Done"
Immediately following DC Council approval last Dec. 15, OPM obtained a 20-year lease, with optional extensions and a purchase option, for the Virginia Avenue property. They also arranged for the developer, Washington Telecom Associates, to fund $100 million in necessary improvements, amortized over 20 years; expected improvements add approximately $9.2 million/year to the $6.5 million base rent.

When they were searching for property, OPM says, only five buildings of the required size were available, and 225 Virginia was the most flexible, allowing for separate cell-block, evidence storage and office functions. Others were interested in the same property, Etzkorn told District councilmembers June 7. Given the tight market for such large structures and the city's expiring leases, OPM and the DC Council acted quickly.

In their haste, OPM – under the previous administration, Etzkorn hastens to emphasize – brought little information to the community. So Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells (D) decided "to insert [him]self into the process" by calling a town hall meeting on the issue. Wells, Eztkorn and Brian Jordan, assistant police chief for Districts 1 and 5, met with the community July 18 at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Southeast. At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelsohn (D) joined the meeting toward its close.

Etzkorn said he appreciated Wells' calling the meeting, what would be "the first of the conversations" about the MPD moves. And while the town hall began with many believing plans were "a done deal," there appeared to be a shift toward the end of the meeting. Wells said new information came to light at the town hall. Moreover, what some perceived as imprecision – Is it possible for 1D to move back to Fourth Street or not? Does the lease on 225 Virginia Ave. obligate MPD to move as initially proposed or not? – he called "opening the doors to different possibilities."

Community Concerns Span Quadrants
Assistant Chief Jordan said the 1D move "is 5,500 feet" and so the "effect in the neighborhood will be minimal, if anything."

But Wells noted that "in this city, two blocks can feel like a mile... a different neighborhood." [one mile = 5280 feet]

The community did express concerns about Southwest's loss of the 1D station. In addition, concerns included parking and traffic issues in near Southeast; massing of police in a single quadrant, while 1D encompasses parts of all four; public access to 1D officers and to the police functions in the proposed headquarters; and the lack of engagement with the community.

Locating 1D within "the walls of the mammoth new facility... will make it less likely that residents" can "comfortably use the facilities 1D on a walk-in basis," says Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6D's resolution opposing the 1D move. Parking for visitors to the headquarters is also considered problematic, given that the 648 planned parking spots – 460 garage spaces, 108 surface spaces and 80 spaces adjacent to the building – barely meet expected employee needs.

In addition, Southwest residents and their ANC believe the 1D station "is crucial for safe pedestrian passage along otherwise deserted Fourth Street," at night, especially crucial during reconstruction of the Waterfront Mall, which blocks access to the Waterfront Metro from the north.

Southwest and Southeast residents alike objected to the proximity of 225 Virginia Ave. and the 1D1 substation (Fifth and E streets SE), while Northeast and Northwest residents wondered how the new location would affect their police access on a daily basis and in the event of an extraordinary emergency.

Nancy Rosen, who lives in Northwest 1D, asked how police could reach areas to the north in the event of an emergency at the Capitol. Jordan said this would only be an issue during shift changes and that police could always be redirected from other areas as necessary, given that the command center remains east of the river.

"Everybody is complaining about parking but what about crime?" asked one Northeast resident.

Jordan reiterated that the station house is where officers "park and change their clothes" and that deployment throughout the PSAs is not based on station location.

Residents remain concerned about traffic during shift changes and "on those 81 days," when baseball traffic could effectively blockade 1D officers for extended periods. In addition, Southeast residents complained that parking and traffic around Garfield Park is already at its limit and that the officers' cars around the 1D1 substation are not currently ticketed, even when left in crosswalks or otherwise in clear violation of the law. Jordan's promise that MPD and 1D would "be a good neighbor" in terms of their own parking was greeted with skepticism.

Etzkorn reminded July 18's gathering that the 225 Virginia Ave. property is zoned for industrial use and could, by right, be developed with an additional floor and a half. Wells cautioned against assuming that another use would be "benign."

Some residents believe the new centralized MPD building could attract trouble all its own, however. "You're creating a terrorist target where there is none," said one resident of nearby F Street SE.

Richard Westbrook asked why such a major public undertaking was not included in discussion of the District's recently approved Comprehensive Plan.

Next Steps
Eztkorn said his office "accepts criticism for being slow to engage the community" but assured the town hall that "this is not a fait accompli... This is only the first meeting. There are elements that can be changed."

Wells said later that he is investigating the cost to the city of having 1D move back to Fourth Street after CFL construction. The fact that 225 Virginia Ave. is too small for both 1D and 1D1 was new information from the town hall, he says, the issue of substations must be explored – including the fate of the Old Miner School building which he says was transferred while he was on the School Board for use as a substation, a use the current chief opposes because staffing pulls officers off the street.