On September 9, Public Safety Director Troy Riggs issued a statement outlining his decision to move personnel, including the headquarters of IMPD East District, to other locations. “Due to potential life safety issues, I have make the decision to remove all personnel from the Regional Operations Center (ROC) and Eastgate until those issues are remedied and we receive a final determination from the Fire Marshall and the Department of Code Enforcement that it is safe to occupy the building.”
The ROC is in the former Eastgate Mall on the south side of the building. It is a 76,000 square foot high security facility that is home for IMPD East District, and was the security center for the Super Bowl in 2012. Homeland Security, the FAA, and the FBI used part of the building during the Super Bowl. It opened January 26, 2012 and was touted as a state-of-the-art office for federal, state, and local agencies to coordinate public safety activities. The center could also be used to coordinate emergency workers in case of disasters. It was also hoped that the location of the ROC would help spur economic development on the east side.
At the heart of the matter are allegations that the basement’s fire alarms are inadequate and other safety concerns have not been addressed by the landlord, 401-Public Safety LLC. In his statement, Director Riggs said, “In response to lingering issues, I asked my Deputy Director, Valerie Washington, to head a team to work with the developer in order to complete the building. A punch list was developed and work began. We also began to place lease payments in an escrow account, and approached the lender in regards to completing the punch list.
“Progress has been made. A punch list of over 120 items is now down to less than 50 items. Unfortunately, in a recent meeting to review progress it was discovered that some items the city believed to have been completed, were not. These items could pose a danger to our employees in the event of fire.”
However, Alex Carroll, owner of Lifeline Data Centers and directly involved in the development of the ROC disputes the city’s claims. In a statement, he noted “When we purchased and began managing the old Eastgate shopping center site, we made a commitment to provide facilities that exceed the requirements for standard office space. Our structural, data, electrical and other infrastructure systems assure that companies can securely store data and locate other critical operations here with complete confidence.
“For the ROC, we also met the stringent standards of the FBI, Homeland Security and IMPD. Building data centers is a prescriptive and precise process, and we applied these same practices throughout the construction of the ROC. We made extraordinary efforts to meet the City’s expectations and get the facility completed on a very fast track in time for the 2012 Super Bowl.
“The sprinkler system – which seems to be the biggest point of contention – has been operating properly every day since the ROC facility opened in January 2012. This is easy for us to prove, despite the City’s statements to the contrary.”
Both sides are currently working to resolve their issues. Police officers have been moved to the Training Academy at 10th and Post Road, while other operations have been moved to other facilities throughout the city.
