Brecksville police station adds public safety features, museum

by Wendy Turrell

The Brecksville Police Department has introduced two additional public safety features in its new police station, located at 9020 Brecksville Rd.

Brecksville Mayor and Safety Director Jerry Hruby foresaw a need for a place where people who felt threatened could take refuge, so he incorporated two “safety rooms” into the design of the new building.

Police Chief William Goodrich said the rooms, which double as report rooms, have been in use since the new station opened in fall 2019. They are located directly off the main lobby. Those who feel in danger can go to the secure rooms, lock them from the inside and have a direct line to police dispatch.

When police arrive, the private rooms offer a safe place for citizens to speak with an officer or file a report.

Another public safety feature is the “Safe Exchange Zone” in the police station parking lot.

Since 2016, the police department has monitored two Safe Exchange Zone spaces to facilitate the sale and exchange of goods between strangers (as would occur with an Internet transaction) or for divorced parents to make a custody exchange.

The new, clearly designated Safe Exchange Zone parking spots are the first two in the parking lot on the south side of the police station, making them more visible than their previous location. The spots are under 24-hour video surveillance and have an emergency call box linked directly with police dispatch.

Detailed information about these safety features is available on the department’s web page at brecksville.oh.us/Police/policeStation.html.

Police museum

The new police station will soon house another innovative feature: a police museum.

The Larkman Family Museum is expected to be dedicated in early 2020. It will exhibit educational and historical items illustrating the evolution of policing over the past 70 years, since the founding of the Brecksville Police Department.

The museum name pays tribute to the Larkman family for helping to lay the foundation of the department, which included the 40-plus-year career of Brecksville officer James A. Larkman.

Equipment, photos and illustrative objects saved from the earliest days of the department will be displayed in cases in the main lobby. Goodrich said the museum display will be open to the public 24/7. Brecksville Police Department members past and present will maintain the exhibits.

Feature image photo caption: Brecksville Lt. Robert Johnson sits in one of the police station’s new safety rooms. Photo by J. Mitchell