OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — A lot has changed in Downtown Omaha over the last few years, with towers like Mutual of Omaha inching higher and higher. Mayor Stothert expressed the need for a police precinct downtown.
- The 2025-2030 draft of the Capital Improvement Program estimates the total cost for the precinct at $20 million.
- The police precinct would include space for Omaha Fire to be able to dispatch from too.
- This combined space is different from the possible police and fire headquarters.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It feels like every corner you turn downtown something is being built.
"An important redevelopment of our urban core requires additional emphasis on public safety," Mayor Jean Stothert said.
Stothert announced on Tuesday, during her 2025 recommended budget presentation, that the city's sixth police precinct would be added downtown.
Mayor Stothert also shared the Capital Improvement Program or the CIP, on Tuesday, which outlines investments for the next 6 years across the city, it estimates the total cost for the precinct at $20 million.
"What we are talking about in the CIP is combined and it's a police precinct but fire will be able to dispatch out of this same building," Stothert said.
In May of 2023, we told you about the possibility of a new combined police and fire headquarters. It sounds similar, but this new precinct would be separate from that.
"If we have a new combined fire and police headquarters, combine those, we still need to, and it might not be downtown, in fact, it most likely won't be downtown, but we still need to dispatch from downtown," Stothert said.
If the headquarters is built, Stothert says the current fire and police stations would be eliminated, which is where this new precinct would help.
That headquarters project is also in the CIP as a placeholder. Mayor Stothert says there is no funding for it yet.
Neighborhood reporter Molly Hudson reached out to OPD to speak about the possibility of this new precinct and the need in the downtown neighborhood but was told the request was waiting for approval.
There is no timeline at this point for the new precinct and the future combined headquarters as the Mayor's recommended budget and the CIP await approval from the city council.
