The Springfield Justice Center, located at 230 4th St. in Springfield, will be hosting an Open House from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14. The Open House will be an opportunity for the community to meet police officers and other police officials. The event is free and members of the public are invited to attend. VICTORIA STEPHENS/THE CHRONICLE
SPRINGFIELD – The Springfield Justice Center will be hosting an Open House from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14. The Open House will be an opportunity for the community to meet police officers and other police officials. The event is free and members of the public are invited to attend. The Justice Center is located at 230 4th St. in Springfield.
Tours of the Justice Center be held throughout the day. The areas to be toured include the police department, courtroom and the jail’s secure-entry area, known as the ”sally port,” where personnel will describe the process there.
”We have a courtroom upstairs, so the justice center isn’t just a jail; it’s like a three-in-one,” said Springfield Police community outreach coordinator, Christopher Solares. ”You have the courtroom, which is upstairs, and we have the city prosecutor’s office upstairs; it’s the second floor. Then the first floor is where we have our dispatch center, our records center, along with the chief office and it’s basically where most of the Springfield personnel work.”
Activities for children and safety information will also be available. Police vehicles will be on display throughout the day. The K-9 police dogs will be demonstrating their skills from noon to 1 p.m. Refreshments will be available from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Tables at the event include information about Neighborhood Watch, Citizen Police Academy Alumni Members will describe what they do and Womenspace will provide information and describe how they work in collaboration with the police in the area of domestic violence.
The Springfield Police Department started the Open House in 2000 at their old building.
”Our Justice Center building took approximately two years to build (2006 to 2008),” Christopher Solares noted. ”On Sept. 11, 2008, police moved in. The jail was built on the old police building site, and it opened in 2010.”
About 1,000 people attended the Open House last year, Solares said.
