The $6.5 million police headquarters has been under construction for several months inside the building on the former Ohio Valley Medical Center campus that was previously known as the Valley Professional Building. General contractor Waller Corporation of Washington, Pennsylvania, has been heading the renovations, which are expected to be completed over the summer.

A grand opening is expected to take place at the new police headquarters in early September if the work remains on schedule as it has been, officials said.

New furnishings and state-of-the-art equipment are expected to come in addition to the new facility as part of the major upgrade for the city’s police force. This past month alone, Wheeling City Council has approved or introduced legislation to authorize contracts and purchases totaling $861,376 for various equipment, furnishings and other new or routine annual expenditures for the police department.

This week, council voted to approve a $312,960 contract with Erb Electric Company of Wheeling for structured cabling, surveillance equipment and access control systems to be used in the police department. Cost of the new systems is being charged to the City Service Fee – or User Fee. Money from this fee that was implemented in recent years is also being used to pay for the construction of both the new police and the new fire department headquarters.

Council also this week approved purchases to outfit police cruisers to be charged to the city’s RCIP (Restricted Capital Improvement Program) fund. A $20,275 contract with Digital-Ally of Lenexa, Kansas, was authorized for the purchase of dash cameras and other police cruiser equipment, and a $17,230 contract with Bearcom of Dallas, Texas, was approved for additional police car equipment.

Last year, city officials through the Finance Committee of Council supported a longstanding request from Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger to expand the police cruiser fleet to one where each officer has a take-home vehicle, as opposed to having officers from different shifts share vehicles which are operated continuously. Officials said the wear-and-tear of running police vehicles non-stop creates a need for them to be replaced more frequently and to accumulate mileage beyond the standard vehicle warranty very quickly.

The routine equipment purchases for new vehicles come as new cruisers are fed into the department.

“These purchases are needed to outfit several new police cruisers with emergency lighting and dash-mounted cameras for our growing fleet,” Schwertfeger said. “Communication and officer safety-related equipment are a critical component of any police vehicle.”

Also this week, the city approved the purchase of a new addition to the police fleet – drones.

An ordinance was passed authorizing a $24,692 expenditure with Steel City Drone LLC of Pittsburgh for drone equipment and training. The police department is able to use funding through a JAG grant (Justice Assistance Grant) for this purchase.

New audio-visual and wireless access point systems for the new police facility also were approved this month. An expenditure of $167,661 with Dagostino Electronic Services of Pittsburgh was okayed earlier this month to be paid through the City Service Fee. However, City Manager Robert Herron had indicated that money provided through a federal earmark – money for communities that lawmakers in Washington championed via the Congressional Direct Spending program – may likely be utilized to cover several costs such as this that are needed to outfit the new police headquarters.

A total of $1,001,000 for the “Wheeling Law Enforcement Technology Program” for technology upgrades to police and safety forces has been awarded through the earmark. Herron indicated that “all of it” will be used on the new police headquarters.

Introduced before city council this week was an ordinance authorizing the city manager to spend $44,169 with SHI International of Somerset, N.J., for networking infrastructure for the new police headquarters. This purchase is expected to be charged to the City Service Fee, but will be reimbursed by the “Wheeling Law Enforcement Technology Program” or fiscal year 2022 COPS Technology program.

In order to furnish the 30,000-square-foot, multi-level facility, another ordinance was introduced this week to authorize the expenditure of $274,389 with Indoff of Wheeling for furniture at the new police headquarters. This contract, which is being paid through the City Service Fee, had been put out to bid, and Indoff was the low bidder. Capitol Business Interiors of Morgantown had submitted a bid in the amount of $432,680 for the furnishing job.

Once completed, the spacious new facility will replace the current police headquarters inside the City-County Building downtown on Chapline Street, an antiquated and cramped 4,500-square-foot space the department has been using since 1959. Police said the department outgrew the space many years ago.