Elkhorn cops seek privacy enhancements in locker rooms
ELKHORN — Police officers here may be brothers and sisters in arms, but they want some privacy when showering or changing clothes in their brand spanking new locker rooms.
The privacy glass that’s supposed to provide seclusion barriers for officers who want to dry off after showers or change clothes isn’t doing it, according to a city finance and judicial committee report.
The opaqueness of the glass was designed to let natural and artificial light through the glass while preventing others from seeing through it, Police Chief Joel Christensen wrote in the report.
“However, since being installed the privacy glass is not functioning as envisioned,” Christensen wrote. “The privacy glass still permits the silhouettes of individuals to be seen, and this problem is most evident during hours of darkness.”
The problem is in both the men’s and women’s locker rooms, Christensen said in an interview.
Christensen got the committee’s recommendation this week to free up $875 from the contingency building fund to install window treatments on the glass. The city council will consider the recommendation today.
Christensen said that window treatments were about the least costly way to fix the problem.
The new police department that opened in late August is in what used to be the old Walworth County Sheriff’s Office in downtown Elkhorn. The city set aside $2.6 million to renovate 14,300 square feet of space. The project has come in at a cost of about $1.8 million, Christensen said.
The committee also recommended to council that the department spend $511.45 to rewire some of the speakers in the hallways to allow officers to hear the police radio.
Now, when officers go from room to room, they cannot hear radio traffic that may summon them to emergencies, according to the report.
Oct 5, 2010 at 6:21 a.m.
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This problem is described as a result of new construction.... The architect who promised the plan would work and suggested the wrong materials for the job is responsible.. Friggin go after the person who made the error for once rather than rolling over and putting more good tax payer money after bad. We here blather about accountability in public funding... Well hold the bloody architect to account.
Oct 4, 2010 at 11:55 p.m.
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The article does not state where this semiprivacy glass is located, or who can see the silhouettes. It does say that the issue is most noticable at night, which would seem to indicate that it is people OUTSIDE the station that are getting the free show.
Oct 4, 2010 at 6:20 p.m.
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yeah, do they even take showers after gym class anymore?
Oct 4, 2010 at 4:56 p.m.
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This is unreal, in this day and age and people are still ashamed of how they look, I remember when I was a kid you showered after gym class and the gym teacher was standing there to hand you a towel to make sure everyone took a shower after class, and there where no doors in the bathroom either you did your business in front of the whole world.
Oct 4, 2010 at 4:56 p.m.
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I find it hard to believe men would be that "sensitive" having spent many years in locker rooms in the Army and various Athletic Clubs.
Oct 4, 2010 at 4:43 p.m.
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Hmmm the elkhorn police must not be packing sufficient equipment!
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