Lake Ozark Police Department HQ falling apart

Deanna Wheeler
deanna.wheeler@lakesunonline.com

It is safe to say the city of Lake Ozark has outgrown it’s police department building.
Among many problems, the building has bad electrical wiring and cracks and holes in exterior and interior walls that let in the elements and wildlife.
The electrical wiring and holes in the walls are both problems Chief Mark Maples inherited when he came on board.
The wiring causes power surges and other problems. Several months ago the police department’s server crashed. The records were recovered but it prompted the city to spend money on a new server and a method of backup. However, that hasn’t stopped the power surges, the blown fuses and fried computer monitors.
In the last several months alone, more than a dozen monitors have had to be replaced.
Chief Mark Maples said he fears the city is continuing to spend more money on problems that aren’t going to go away by throwing money at them.
Essentially, he said, the police department has outgrown its use for the building.
In the two years Maples has served as chief, he has turned around the attitudes on the police force and created an environment that is professional, thereby improving its reputation with the public.
Back at the station, officers are squeezed in with many of them sharing the one central office space, desks and computers.
There is no interview room for questioning.
“It’s hard to conduct a proper interview when you’re sitting in an office and the door is opening or closing all the time or it’s downstairs outside dispatch and you can see what’s going on there,” Maples added. “It’s distracting.”
The records clerk is squeezed into a tiny space crowded with files.
There is no employee or staff lounge, for the officers to relax. It doesn’t sound necessary, but a place is needed for the officers to unwind after a call, Maples said.
Even the building location itself makes it hard to conduct business, Maples said.
Located behind the Strip, vehicles leaving the building have to fight several blind spots created by cars parked along the road.
And, nearby residences share the same road leading to and away from the building.
Maples emphasized he doesn’t want the police department to sound ungrateful, because they are grateful. The city has worked with the department the past several years helping him get the equipment and funds needed to continually improve.
But like all things in a city that is constantly growing, things need to be updated and replaced from time to time, Maples said.