Saints Medical Center office latest in series of new Lowell police substations

By David Perry, dperry@lowellsun.com

Looking over the new police substation at Saints Medical Center are, from left, Deputy Superintendent Arthur Ryan, Saints CEO Michael Guley, Mayor Edward "Bud" Caulfield and Police Superintendent Kenneth Lavallee. SUN/DAVID H. BROW

LOWELL -- It's a small office near the emergency entrance at Saints Medical Center, with a slide-open window. It holds six security monitors, a couple of chairs on wheels and a computer.

And from time to time, a cop.

The newly christened Lowell police substation is the latest addition to a growing number of neighborhood substations existing rent-free, thanks to landlords donating the space.

Yesterday, Police Superintendent Kenneth Lavallee, Deputy Superintendent Arthur Ryan, Saints CEO Michael Guley and Mayor Edward "Bud" Caulfield snipped a ribbon to officially open the city's first hospital substation.

The Saints space is minimal, and once held the hospital's security office, which has moved down the hallway.

The Saints office replaces the 151 Andover St. office in the city's lower Belvedere neighborhood, the domain of LPD's Cruiser 3. Before the Andover Street substation closed July 31, it cost the city $15,600 in annual rent.

With rental spaces being swapped out for rent-free digs, the city is maintaining its neighborhood presence, often linking with local businesses.

Add it all up and there's a $79,800 savings in rent, according to Lavallee.

"We started closing substations that had been in existence for over a decade," he said. "They provided income for landlords, as they should. But in order to save resources, we had to close them, and community partners have stepped up to the plate, which is what you're seeing today."

The idea is for police to be out on the beat in the community, said Lavallee, but the substation will boost visibility within the hospital.

"It's about a presence, and a place for officers to go to conduct business and write reports," said Lavallee.

And landlords fill vacant space with folks trained to protect a neighborhood and its businesses.

Deputy Superintendent Ryan likes to call the small outposts "pocket precincts."

"It's part of the great relationship we have with the city as a hospital, a way of giving back to the community," said Guley. "We heard there were financial implications with the substation and we contacted the department."

And in rough financial times, it's a trend that's taking hold, as those with empty retail space step forward to offer it to police.

The city's newest, rent-free substations are at the 7-Eleven store at Chelmsford and Westford streets, as well as the new CVS Pharmacy on Bridge Street.

Other rent-free substations are at the Lowell Housing Authority on Market Street, and at the corner of West Sixth Street and Aiken Avenue in Centralville, and one at Broadway Street in the Acre, donated by Brian McGowan. In 2007, Arthur Faneros donated to the city the station at the corner of University and Gardner avenues.

The "critical" Lower Highlands substation alongside the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell Inc. remains open, with a reduced rent, said Lavallee.

The School Department has offered free space at the Rogers School, where a substation will be opening soon, said Lavallee. Police also are planning a substation in the Highlands' Cupples Square.

Lavallee said police did "bring up the subject" of a substation about a month ago with managers of the new Target store on Plain Street. "We haven't heard anything more on it."

This story appeared in the Lowel Sun on Friday, November 13, 2009