The Northern York County Regional Police Department has been awarded a $4.5 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant for the construction of a new police headquarters in Manchester Township.
Built upon the cooperation of our five original municipalities, the Northern York County Regional Police Department (NYCRPD) was founded in September of 1972 as the first regional police department in Pennsylvania. The department initially fielded 14 police officers. In 1974, the current Northern York County Regional Police Headquarters was built at 1445 East Canal Road in Dover Township. As our agency continued to grow and expand, so did the need for space at this facility. Renovations and additions were completed in both 1987 and 1997. The 1997 addition was designed to provide enough space for 40 police officers and brought the overall size of the facility to nearly 9500 square feet.
In 2020, NYCRPD acquired the former Southwestern Regional Police Department building in Heidelberg Township. Renamed the Officer David Tome Substation, this building offered us a respite from our current overcrowding issues, but due to location, does not alleviate the needs for the improvements to our base of operations.
Today, the NYCRPD is the largest regional police department in the Commonwealth providing police services to 88,000 residents in 11 municipalities covering over 214 square miles of York County. Our current complement is 65 police officers. The physical plant of the agency did not keep up with this rising growth.
In May of 2021, the Northern York County Regional Police Board of Commissioners ordered a site assessment and feasibility study to be conducted by Buchart Horn Architects. The study found that the police department needed a facility more than 34,000 square feet on more than 5 acres of land with an estimated construction cost of $11.5 million.
The new facility will address issues found during the site assessment, including:
- Locker room facilities for both male and female officers.
- Equipment storage.
- Dedicated space for the processing of evidence.
- Improved evidence intake and storage.
- Secure parking for police vehicles and staff.
The building will have state-of-the-art training facilities for physical fitness, classroom, hands on, and virtual reality training. An Emergency Operations Center is embedded in facility design, providing a modern emergency management infrastructure and capability during major incidents within our area of operations.
The current location on East Canal Road is landlocked with a total lot size of 1.5 acres and as a result, not suitable for our new facility. Architectural renderings of the new facility were completed by Buchart Horn as we began discussing potential locations for the building.
In June of 2021, the NYCRPD met with Kansas City-based NorthPoint Development regarding the proposed Manchester Commerce Center. NorthPoint Development was interested in a public/private partnership to bring the new police facility to the Manchester Commerce Center. Northpoint agreed to provide the police department with approximately 11 acres of land in building ready condition.
The Manchester Commerce Center is an industrial development planned by NorthPoint Development. Regional Way, a public roadway will connect the 3800 block of the Susquehanna Trail with Canal Road Extended. Access to the new police facility will be from Regional Way.
The facility will be funded by the grant monies, contributions from NorthPoint Development, other private contributions and sponsorships, as well as municipal funds.
Construction is slated to begin in the late Summer of 2023 with the building being completed in late 2024.
The Northern York County Regional Police Department would like to thank the following elected leaders who supported our project
- Governor Tom Wolf
- State Senator Kristin Phillips-Hill
- State Senator Mike Regan
- State Representative Seth Grove
- State Representative Keith Gillespie
- State Representative Kate Klunk
- State Representative Carol Hill-Evans
- York County Commissioners
RACP is a Commonwealth grant program administered by the Office of the Budget for the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational, and historical improvement projects. RACP projects are state-funded and cannot obtain primary funding under other state programs.
