Delaware State Police officers lowered the flags at Troop 6 Wednesday morning, closing its doors for a complete demolition and reconstruction over the next 18 months.
Delaware State Police spokesperson Senior Corporal Leonard DeMalto says troopers will temporarily relocate to Troop 2 in Newark.
“The areas that are policed by Troop 6 will still be fully serviced, 100%, there isn’t going to be any lapse in coverage or services in those areas.”
Troop 6 officers typically patrol the Christiana Mall, Kirkwood Highway and I-95, so DeMalto says there may be some added driving time for troopers, but Troop 2 has room to comfortably house both troops.
“We’ll just have a few more troopers under the same roof, and maybe a little bit more driving for our Troop 6 troopers for a little bit," DeMalto says.
DeMalto says the new facility will be state-of-the-art with all new computers and software systems for video surveillance, and a layout that “makes sense.”
“We’re starting from scratch, we’re starting from the bottom," DeMalto says. "So before anything is built there is going to be lots of eyes on it to make sure, ‘hey does this make sense, does this not make sense?’ as opposed to, ‘here’s a building, make it work,’ which is kind of how it is now, which is fine, but it’s different when you start from the ground up and you can build it yourself to make sure all the gears are turning correctly.”
While the Troop 6 building has served State Police since 1970, DeMalto says it needed more than a facelift to help troopers better serve northern Delaware.