City of Savannah breaks ground on new police precinct and public safety center

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) -City officials broke ground Monday on a new police precinct and crime center that will replace the current Northwest Police headquarters.

The precinct will become home to the city’s first real-time public safety center.

“This precinct allows us to keep our footprint similar, almost exactly, to where it is right now at our existing Northwest precinct,” said Chief Lenny Gunther of the Savannah Police Department.

The new space includes major upgrades, including a real-time public safety center designed to improve response times.

“It’s going to increase our proactivity, our response times, and really leverage our technology,” Gunther said.

The city says the new precinct will include a community room, squad room, fitness room, K-9 facility and interview rooms.

“We have a community room that our neighbors can use, so again, putting us in close proximity to them,” said Mayor Van Johnson.

The project costs $18 million, paid for with public funds, including SPLOST dollars. The city currently leases the Northwest Precinct on Lathrop Avenue. With this new project, the city will own the building outright.

Location was a key factor. The new precinct sits near downtown and the westside neighborhoods it serves.

“It is close to a city-owned facility, the Floyd Adams Municipal Complex. It’s land we already own. It’s very close to I-516, very close to Gwinnett and Stiles Avenue. And so it’s a perfect jumping-off point if we need to move resources,” Johnson said.

Three out of the city’s four precinct’s don’t have neighborhood resource officers, including the current northwest location.

Something Chief Lenny Gunther says this new building will help address.

Mayor Van Johnson says the city is on a strict timeline, with plans to have the facility open by the end of the year.