Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Police to get updated digs and tough new computers

By Jeff Kearns

Three years after the Santa Clara County Grand Jury visited the Los Gatos Police Department and expressed concern that a mere translucent wall separating the male officers' showers from the female officers' showers was "a potential sexual discrimination situation," the department is going to remodel its downstairs facilities, thanks to a $105,000 allocation in the new budget.

At the time of the grand jury report, issued in the summer of 1995, the town was experiencing severe budget restraints. Then mayor Patrick O'Laughlin, responding to the grand jury, said that the showers were installed in the 1950s and designed for male officers only. "In consultation with our male and female employees," he wrote, "we have achieved a workable schedule for men and women using the showers at different times."

The remodel of the department's downstairs facilities will include a bigger locker room and new bathroom for female officers and staff.

Chief Larry Todd says the women's changing room, currently about 6 feet by 8 feet, is basically just a glorified closet. But Todd said the remodel was delayed until now because trying to do the work any earlier would have meant laying off one or two employees.

The department has three female officers, but many other women use the facility, including non-sworn officers, volunteers and office staff.

The sergeant's offices will be enlarged, and the holding areas will be moved to a new location. The men's locker room, which is used by about 70 officers and employees, will be refurbished and expanded slightly into the assembly room.

The remodel is scheduled for completion sometime in October.

The new budget, which takes effect July 1, also provides for 30 new computers for the police department, eight of which are Panasonic CF-25 laptops designed for use in the field. The laptops, which cost $5,448 each, are waterproof and dust-resistant, with magnesium-alloy cases, and hard drives are packed in a shock-absorbing gel.

Los Gatos police, who currently aren't issued laptops by the department, will use the new computers to write reports on-scene. Todd says the new laptops will keep officers in the field longer instead of writing reports back at the station, which reduces response time for emergency calls.

The department has also received new desktop computers, monitors, digital cameras and software for the office. According to Todd's budget request, the old computers were slow, with many experiencing hard-drive problems, network interface problems, monitor burnout and other "mysterious problems associated with old age."

The total cost of the new computers and equipment is $140,375. Most of the department's old computers will be donated to various nonprofit organizations in town.

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