Should it stay or should it go? It's a question Rock Island Police have been asking about their more than 70 year old station. Officers say it is cramped and could be dangerous for you.
One of the many gripes officers have about the building is its lack of handicap accessibility. The handicap entrance is around the corner so if you're handicapped you have to go in through City Hall. After going through City Hall, you have to take the elevator to the second floor, then you go through doors that lead to the juvenile department, and are then confined to that floor since there is no elevator in the police department.
Police say the problems only start there.
"There's only three places to sit in this lobby and there's people in here that are irate, dealing with someone who just got arrested, it's pretty close quarters," Lt. Tim McCloud says.
"Our biggest issue is with space," he says, "Our evidence area is spread out, we've just basically been using whatever areas we can to put evidence into, and they all need to be consolidated into one spot."
So they're putting it in garages outside, old cells, and closets, spread out among seven different places in the station, and at risk of affecting an investigation.
The same place they store evidence out in the garage is where they bring in criminals. A gate is supposed to come down to keep the area secure.
"It's old, and it doesn't go down a lot of the times," Deputy Chief Jeff VenHuizen says, "Even if you do have them back in here, you got the door to city hall right there so that's not locked."
VenHuizen says since he's been here, four have escaped because of security issues.
"In this building there's not a lot of control access, once you get inside the building you can go pretty much wherever," McCloud says.
An architecture firm is evaluating the structural issues, looking at two options, a new building or an expansion.
"I don't see how we could effectively use this building," McCloud says.
Whatever they decide to do is slated to start in the 2015-2016 budget year, no word yet on where those funds will come from or how much this will cost, but city council members have stated they do not want to raise taxes to do it.
If you'd like to see the Rock Island station for yourself, there are tours Tuesday night at 5:00PM and 6:30PM. There will also be tours this Saturday at 9AM, 10:30AM, and noon.
