Lexington police officers working in the East Sector of town now have a new roll call center. A ribbon cutting Thursday officially recognized the satellite office where officers report for duty.
Police Chief Lawrence Weathers said the roll call center on Clearwater Way gets officers closer to some major arterials and should quicken response. The east sector was previously located along Centre Parkway. Weathers doesn’t see the move as lessening police presence there.
“This spot was specifically chosen because it does give us easy access back over to there and, of course, that area over there we were renting and they had other plans for it which also benefit the community,” said Weathers.
Weathers said he understands there are plans for a grocery store in the Centre Parkway area, which he says is needed. The new $4.2 million roll call center was designed with energy efficiency in mind, using insulated concrete wall construction and a geothermal heating and cooling system. The building can also accommodate solar panels.
Chief Weathers said gun violence remains a very difficult issue to address. As he puts it, quote, “gun violence is unfortunate, we don’t know when people are going to do what.” The chief says there's not one thing to attribute shootings to, adding there are different circumstance in each case.
“What would we like to see?…we like to see people treating each other more like human beings…being decent to people. It’s unexplainable. I certainly can’t explain it, but we’re going to do everything in our power to hold those people accountable, who commit them,” said Weathers.
Weather said that it remains almost always interpersonal violence, not random acts. The chief said the new east sector roll call is highly visible near Veterans Park.
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