Tucson Standard

The Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) is seeking $78 million to renovate its Tucson headquarters, as well as other DPS offices throughout the state. Although parts of the Tucson headquarters have been renovated over the years, the facility isn’t up to standards. 

Jeffrey Hawkins, president of the Arizona State Troopers Association, told Tucscon.com that the second-floor offices can only be accessed by stairs, leading to repeated fines for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Many other offices are overcrowded and lack needed equipment. 

“We’re basically putting earrings on a pig,” Hawkins said. “They’ve done the best they can, but this isn’t adequate for 400 people.”

The headquarters is known to have unreliable security and electrical problems, as well as poor air circulation, and is located in a floodplain. Because of that, officers do not have access to the building when it is flooded. 

In addition, Hawkins said, many DPS buildings have issues with asbestos. Some offices are managed out of single- or double-wide trailers, he added.

“To think that that’s where your state police is running their organization out of,” Hawkins said. “We think this [renovation] is long overdue.”

Space is also a concern, according to Tucson.com. Many offices in the building are at or above capacity. The squad room has only eight computers and four desks split among 58 troopers. One training room has been remodeled, but space is still a factor, Hawkins said. Space could become even more of an issue if the department fills its vacant positions.

“We have 300 vacancies, and to think that if they were going to hire 40 more people, they wouldn’t have any place to put them,” Hawkins said to Tucson.com.

With the new funding, DPS plans to rebuild the two-story facility to bring everything up to code and solve the space issues, Hawkins said.