Police Building Committee to seek input on three options

By Scott Benjamin
BROOKFIELD – Residents will provide input later this month on three options to address an outdated police headquarters that opened nearly 40 years ago.
The ad-hoc Police Building Committee will hold three sessions to get feedback on whether to expand the current headquarters, which opened in 1987 at 63 Silvermine Road on the municipal campus.
The options: Build a new headquarters on the corner parcel of the municipal campus along Silvermine and Pocono roads; construct a new headquarters at the site of the former Center Elementary School along Obtuse Hill Road/ Route 133; or expand the current headquarters.
Those sessions will be held on Saturday, May 16, in room 133 of the town hall at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and on Wednesday, May 26, 6:30 p .m. in room 209 of the town hall.
Additionally a survey for residents and building owners is available via: brookfieldct.gov/753/Police-Building-Ad-Hoc-Committee

The committee, chaired by former Police Chief Jay Purcell, has been gathering information for nearly a year.
Purcell stated in a news release that, “We will be asking the public to make a major investment to serve Brookfield for the next several decades. It’s important for the public to understand how the community has grown over the last forty years and how the department needs have changed. While our committee has diligently been studying that growth and those needs, we want to hear from the public as much as possible before we develop our ultimate recommendation. I encourage everyone to join us at one of the forums and/or to complete our survey.”
Purcell told the Board of Selectmen last summer that the committee planned to offer a recommendation in June 2026.
First Selectman Steve Dunn has said that the current headquarters does not conform with federal regulations.

Dunn has added that he hopes that a recommendation will be considered at referendum in November, either as part of the ballot for the November 3 general election or on a separate date.
Dunn and selectmen Karl Hinger and Bob Belden have each said that expanding police facilities is the municipal government’s top capital priority.
Dunn has said that, among other data, the committee has studied new police headquarters that were constructed in Wilton and Newtown.
The other members of the ad-hoc committee are: Vice Chairman Irene Corea, Secretary Matt Grimes, Robert Marconi, James Mitchell, Mario Nacinovich, and Aaron Zimmer.