New HQ should aid Oro Valley Police Department’s recruitment | News

When it’s finished, the new headquarters for the Oro Valley Police Department promises to become “a great recruiting tool,” in the mind of Deputy Chief Curtiss Hicks.

Hicks would describe OVPD’s culture as excellent. Its wages and benefits are competitive with, if not higher than, other departments in Southern Arizona. Oro Valley police have broad community support, and they are fundamental to the town’s consistent ranking as one of Arizona’s safest communities.

But OVPD’s current headquarters building on the 11000 N. La Canada Drive town campus can be seen as cramped and less than ideal to new talent.

“We have to sell our culture pretty heavily,” Hicks said, when recruits compare OVPD facilities with the $17 million Marana Police Department headquarters, opened in 2018, or the Tucson Police Department’s $23.8 million Westside Police Service Center on Miracle Mile.

“What is the environment in which you do your daily job?” Commander Mike Gracie asked. First and foremost, that environment is on the streets, and in the community. Secondarily, it’s at HQ.

When it’s occupied, the new OVPD headquarters on Oracle Road promises to be “a facility that’s purpose-built, right-sized for you” as an Oro Valley police officer, Gracie said. “That lends to your mental health. The work we do on this project communicates to them that they matter.”