‘I think we’re being played:’ Split city council clashes on Bloomington police HQ future

Over the objections of rank-and-file police officers, a sharply divided Bloomington City Council has approved spending about $24 million to move the police headquarters into the Showers Brothers Furniture complex, which officers deem unsafe.

Council member Dave Rollo, who voted against the plan, said he and some of his colleagues felt coerced by Mayor John Hamilton, who, Rollo said, presented the council with a take-it-or-leave-it offer to under a tight deadline.

“I think we’re being played here,” Rollo said. “And I resent it. Deeply.”

Rollo urged his colleagues to reject the proposal and to “stop the Stockholm syndrome,” a reference to a psychological coping mechanism through which a captive develops positive feelings toward their captors or abusers.

Council member Matt Flaherty, who voted for the proposal, said Rollo’s hyperbole was unhelpful.

The mayor, Flaherty said, believes investing in the current police HQ is irresponsible and he is therefore proposing another option.

"(This) is not a threat. It is not coercion. It is not playing the council. It is not Stockholm syndrome,” Flaherty said.

“And I think all of that language is reflective of the sort of hyperpolarization of this discussion, and politicization, frankly,” he said, “with inflammatory language that significantly mischaracterizes the facts as well as what people are saying.”

'Evolution of public safety'

The discussion about the Showers purchase was colored by the national debate about police brutality against non-white residents and the push, among some, to address those issues — or at least to do so with more urgency.

Flaherty clashed over that matter with council member and mayoral candidate Susan Sandberg.

Sandberg had criticized the proponents’ rationale that moving the police headquarters into the same building as city hall would bolster the evolution of public safety.

“I'm not buying it,” she said. “We’re already a progressive community when it comes to public safety. And to say anything different is condescending to the very people who are doing their best to provide for the public safety of everybody."

Flaherty has been part of a four-member council faction — with members Isabel Piedmont-Smith, Kate Rosenbarger and Stephen Volan — that frequently has butted heads with the five-member majority — Rollo, Sandberg and members Ron Smith, Jim Sims and council President Sue Sgambelluri — on major issues in the last few years, including homelessness, housing density and annexation.

Sims, the council’s sole Black member, last week switched alliances and sided with Flaherty, Piedmont-Smith, Rosenbarger and Volan to approve the Showers purchase.

Hamilton said in a Herald-Times column that moving police and fire administrations into the Showers building “meets current needs and also positions us well for the future” because the facility offers “room for growth and proximity to other city departments.”

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“The move into Showers is a move into the culture of the future: integrated public safety services strongly tied into city services as a whole, part of the entire city administration that is committed to transparent, effective services toward a more just and inclusive community,” Hamilton said.

BPD chief says officer concerns can be addressed

BPD officer and police union President Paul Post said last week the historic Showers building’s glass façade cannot protect police officers and road access constraints will increase emergency response times.

The glass façade puts police officers in danger, he said, and increases the risk of exposing the identities of crime victims and law enforcement sources.

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Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael told the council some windows could be blocked if needed and the deployment of ballistic glass in some areas may make sense.

She said the administration was confident that “any issues … are manageable.”

Post scoffed at the comments.

“Blinds is not what we’re looking for,” he said. “That’s not addressing the concerns we have.”

Post also has said the Showers location, adjacent to the B-Line Trail, would make it difficult for police vehicles to come and go quickly on emergency calls since they would have to cross the busy pedestrian trail.

However police Chief Mike Diekhoff countered that officers primarily respond to calls from their patrols — not from police headquarters. Further, he said, officers can activate their lights and sirens to clear any congested areas.

Post also criticized the Hamilton administration for not reaching out to the police union to seek input on the move. And he said the landlocked location of the Showers building limits future expansion. The union also contends that renovation of the existing headquarters likely could save the city millions.

Post said in a survey, to which a majority of rank-and-file officers responded, none favored moving into the Showers building.

“We’re disappointed in the outcome,” Post said.

In a news release issued by the Hamilton administration, Diekhoff said he looked forward to “working with the officers, union leadership and city administration in designing the best space we can.”

The council’s action last week means the city, through its redevelopment commission, will buy 64,000 square feet of the Showers building’s western portion for $8.75 million and renovate/upgrade it for an estimated $14.75 million. The city will fund the projects with borrowed money. The council last year approved issuing about $30 million in bonds, to be paid back through higher local income taxes. Part of that money also will go toward other public safety projects, such as upgraded fire stations.

Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington council OKs Showers purchase to relocate police HQ