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St. Helens to Hold In Person Public Safety Facility Meeting April 6
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 23, 2021
St. Helens, Ore. – The City of St. Helens is hosting an in-person community meeting on Tuesday, April 6 to review the City’s proposal to build a new Public Safety Facility building. The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. at the St. Helens Middle School, 354 N. 15th Street.
Due to COVID-19 safety guidelines, the meeting is limited to 45 attendees. Registration is required to attend. To register, visit the City’s website at www.sthelensoregon.gov/administration/page/community-engagement-events. Due to the attendance limits, we ask community members to prioritize registration for St. Helens residents and business owners. Social distance guidelines will be observed, and attendees must wear a mask.
This meeting is an opportunity for the community to hear from City staff and St. Helens police officers about the Public Safety Facility proposal and for the community to ask questions and provide feedback.
The current St. Helens police station was built in 1971 (now 50 years old) to serve 6,200 residents, which is less than half of today’s current population. The station has seen almost no change to the original 2,200 square feet of office space and garage that were built to serve the community at that time.
Today, the station does not meet operational standards for policing best practices which excludes St. Helens from becoming an accredited police department. The building is not ADA accessible, does not meet basic energy efficiency or seismic standards, and can no longer accommodate the large amount of digital data that officers now work with. Of particular concern is the fact that there are no private interview spaces for those in crisis, no dedicated briefing space for officers, and no area for officer training. Senior administrative staff currently work out of a temporary trailer with no restrooms or running water, and the main station has no decontamination area and only enough space for a unisex changing room.
The new Public Safety Facility will be home to the St. Helens Police Department and St. Helens Municipal Court, in addition to providing community meeting room space and serving as a backup location for emergency response.
Learn more about the St. Helens Public Safety Facility project on the City’s website at www.sthelensoregon.gov/administration/page/public-safety-facility.
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For further information regarding the in-person Public Safety Facility community meeting, please contact Communications Officer Crystal King at crystalf@ci.st-helens.or.us.
