When funding was acquired for a new building in 2008, the chief called in the local Spacesaver affiliate to design storage solutions for evidence lockers, personal lockers, files, and sally port lockers. The chief had recently attended a walk-through of Sausalito’s new police department, which had been designed by Glass Architects, along with Systems and Space design consultant Catherine Belmont.
The planning group wanted to make smart use of their available space for evidence lockers and other storage, in large part because the new building would eventually house a further expanded police department comprising yet another municipality and a portion of a fourth. The new entity would be called the Central Marin Police Authority.
The planning team acknowledged that the officers were working hard in tough conditions, dealing with unruly suspects and frequent uncertainty during hectic shifts. The planning team wanted to boost morale by investing in the officers’ comfort — and they saw the new building’s locker rooms as the best way to do that. They wanted the new locker rooms to be an oasis of order and safety for the officers. The defining feature of any locker room, of course, are the lockers themselves — so the planning team determined that the officers’ personal duty lockers should be a major focus of the project. They particularly liked the heavy-duty quality and versatility of Spacesaver’s FreeStyle® Personal Storage Lockers they had seen at the recently completed public safety building in Sausalito.
With that commitment to quality in mind, they decided to invest in sturdy lockers that would stand up to frequent use. The Spacesaver consultant worked with the officers to create a list of “need to have” and “nice to haves” for the locker rooms, which included:
