BUFFALO, NY - Buffalo Police have begun the move to its new headquarters on Court Street.
The former Dillon Federal Courthouse will soon be the Public Safety headquarters for both Buffalo Police and Buffalo Fire. The current police headquarters are located at the corner of Church and Franklin streets.
"We anticipate our move here should take upwards of 30 days," says BPD Captain Jeff Rinaldo. "We have a number of different units within this building that need to be relocated as well as the technology that drives those units: computer programs, software, infrastructure, connectivity and radio dispatch as well."
Rinaldo says the move will be undertaken unit by unit. "We're gonna begin today with our accident investigation unit as well as our internal affairs. We're going to get them in the new building, get them set up, and make sure that everything's working the way it's supposed to, and then we will start unit by unit making those moves."
One challenge facing the department in the move is the amount of property and evidence that needs to be transported, according to Rinaldo.
"Our lifespan in this building has been nearly 100 years and we have well over 100,000 pieces of property and evidence that needs to be moved. And as it's moved, it has to literally be escorted by a police officer piece by piece, so that is going to be a little bit of a challenge for us."
The current headquarters at Church and Franklin are still open to the public for any needs or concerns. Rinaldo says the department anticipates the Dillon Courthouse become the new public location around October 1.
