Off to Smashing Start : Wall-Breaking Ceremony Caps Effort for Camarillo Police Station

Swinging eight-pound steel mallets, officials from Camarillo and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department broke through the walls at the Bill Esty Center on Wednesday, hailing the start of the building’s transformation into a new city police station.

The untraditional wall-breaking ceremony capped a decade-long effort to find a new home for the city’s 56-deputy force.

The Esty Center, a former community center at 3701 E. Las Posas Road, was purchased by the city last year for conversion to the headquarters for a station for sheriff’s deputies in Camarillo.

When the $3.5-million renovation is completed, the 27,000-square-foot, two-story station will be almost six times the size of the department’s present dilapidated quarters on Palm Drive.

“This is really a dream come true for us,� Mayor Ken Gose said. “This project symbolizes the importance that we place on public safety in Camarillo.�

The Palm Drive site has been in poor shape for years, deputies said. The roof leaks. Interview rooms where suspects are taken have holes punched through the walls. Deputies are forced to share cramped, creaky lockers. The 56 deputies share a single bathroom.

“The nicest thing about the new station will be the fact that we won’t have to wear raincoats inside during bad weather,� quipped Sgt. Michael Lewis, who is supervising the project for the Sheriff’s Department.

At the Esty Center, renovation plans include construction of several interview rooms, including one designed to comfort children who are victims of crimes; shower facilities, multiple bathrooms, a lunch room, and a weight and workout room.

Briefing rooms and offices for department administrators will also be constructed. Space for jail cells will be provided but they will not be immediately constructed, Lewis said. Deputies will continue to transport suspects to County Jail in Ventura.

During Wednesday’s ceremony, officials said Camarillo has waited more than 30 years for a facility capable of handling all of the department’s needs. Once renovations are complete in the spring, the building will meet state standards to be considered an “essential� public building--a structure that is built or renovated to remain habitable after natural disasters.

Deputies stationed in Camarillo have worked under tough conditions since the city’s incorporation in 1964--and even before then, officials said.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, deputies patrolling Camarillo worked out of their radio cars, said Sheriff’s Cmdr. Ray Abbott, Camarillo’s police chief. Then, space in an unused classroom at a school on Ventura Avenue served as a station.

In 1977, with Camarillo’s police needs growing along with its population, the city moved the department into its present site on Palm Drive, a former Bank of America building.

For John Murphy 67, who was one of the first deputies assigned to the area in 1957, the station represents a whole new world in law enforcement.

“Back when I was working here, we either worked out of our patrol cars or our homes. We had to use our radios or a phone to stay in touch with headquarters in Ventura,� said Murphy, who is now retired. “The department here in Camarillo has come a long way and I’m glad to see it.�