Officers, officials cheer construction of new Concord Police HQ

Inside the concrete shell of the former Concord Insurance Building, Concord Police officers strolled with their heads on a swivel.

As they eyed three floors of gutted space, they chatted about how much of a size upgrade it will be once complete as the city’s new police headquarters.

Sergeant Ben Mitchell has been working on the department’s recruitment strategy, and in the past, the cramped space at the current station hasn’t helped. Looking around, he saw promise.

“The numbers of officers have been way down,” he said. “We’re still hiring good people, but just being able to have the opportunity to bring in more good quality candidates to serve the city is just — it’s awesome.”

Work preparing the building to become the new headquarters has been underway for months, and a formal groundbreaking on Thursday brought together city officials and police officers, past and present, to view that progress.

Interim Police Chief Barrett Moulton heralded the new station, which will more than triple the size of the current one, as supportive of the needs of modern police work. Its computer crimes unit in particular, as well as its social work team, are handling more and more cases from small offices.

In addition to retrofitting the mid-century insurance space, an addition will be added onto the side, roughly doubling the size of the building.

Already, glass panels from the building have been removed along that side to make way for the addition.

Recently retired chief Bradley Osgood noted that the community space at the department will create an area for city residents and alumni like himself to engage with the department. The city prosecutor’s office will move into the building’s upper floor, and community rooms and an expanded reception area will also add more room for public visitors and guests, Moulton noted.

The timeline for the project – with a construction price tag of about $41 million and total cost at just under $50 million – is relatively swift, with an expected move-in date in the fall of 2027.

Both the station’s approval and cash retention bonuses in recent years have buoyed recruitment, Deputy Chief Steven Smagula said later Thursday.

“We’re riding a tremendous wave on both recruiting and retention,” he said. Among newer officers, “it wasn’t just the money… It was it was really understanding that they were heard and that we got a plan.”