Monument honoring fallen Bristol officers on hold as city considers options
Plans to construct a monument for Bristol police officers killed in the line of duty — including two officers gunned down in an ambush last October — have been put on hold after city officials learned that the price tag for renovating the police complex will be astronomically higher than what it was originally estimated to cost.
Bristol Mayor Jeffrey Caggiano said city officials were “sticker shocked” when they discovered that redoing the HVAC system alone in the Bristol Police Department, located at 131 N. Main St., could cost around $25 million after budgeting about $12 million for the project.
“The cost of projects and bids all over are just crazy,” the mayor said.
“Our plan once we moved back into city hall was to redo the police complex and one of the big parts of that complex was redoing the HVAC system because it’s 50 years old,” Caggiano said.
The enormous gap between what was budgeted and the initial estimate has caused city officials to take a step back and bring in a firm to conduct a cost analysis that will compare the price of renovating the current building to the cost of constructing a whole new complex. One by-product of the cost study is that it will temporarily halt the construction of a monument honoring fallen Bristol officers that will sit in front of the police department, wherever that may be.
Earlier this year, the Bristol Police Benevolent Association established a memorial fund to construct a monument recognizing all five officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice. This includes, most recently, Lt. Dustin DeMonte and Sgt. Alex Hamzy who were gunned down outside a Redstone Hill Road home on Oct. 12, 2022, during an ambush attack. The monument will also honor officers James McNamee, James Burns and Ernest Schilke, who were killed in the line of duty between 1930 and 1944.
“To put the police memorial out in front of a building where quite honestly we might decide to move it just doesn’t make long-term sense,” Caggiano said. “That monument will be there for eternity to remember those officers forever.
“We’re not in a hurry to get it done and obviously would never want to move it,” the mayor continued, adding that city officials are looking at “probably a six-month hold” to determine whether to renovate the current police station or build a new one.
Bristol police Chief Brian Gould said he would be “open to all the options” presented following the cost analysis, but a new facility would most definitely be the preferred route. His two top priorities moving forward with such an endeavor would be the operations of the police force and properly honoring Bristol’s fallen officers in front of a building that will stand the test of time.
“A new facility would last much longer,” Gould said, adding that he has concerns that renovating the current police department could present problems down the road 15 to 20 years from now.
“And renovations can be disruptive to operations,” the chief said.
The current police department facility “served its purpose,” Gould believes, but it has not been amenable to the growth and expansion that the police force has seen over the years. The limited space includes an antiquated ramp design that spirals to the top of the parking garage, chewing up valuable square footage.
A parking area that sits directly above offices in the facility also complicates matters, according to Caggiano.
“We’re going to have more and more electric cars, which are twice as heavy,” Caggiano said. “Electric cars, when they burn, really burn. So we’re going to take a step back and look at what the alternatives are.”
Despite the delay, both Gould and Caggiano said the city remains steadfast in its efforts of properly memorializing every officer who gave their life protecting the community.
“We’re very thankful for all the donations that have come in,” Gould said. “We’re very excited to see that project through. We just want to make sure we’re doing everything correctly.”