ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Market Street in Newark has a new law enforcement stronghold: the Essex County Sheriff's Office's recently opened patrol headquarters.

Essex County officials announced the opening of the new police building on Thursday. According to county officials, the sheriff's office patrol operations were relocated from the Parks Administration Building across from Branch Brook Park to the new facility on the corner of Market Street and Myrtle Avenue in Newark's West Ward. The Patrol Division offices have been housed at the Parks Administration Building at 115 Clifton Avenue since the building opened in 1916. The division occupied part of the first floor and basement, and the "cramped, out-of-date conditions" were not conducive to efficient operations, county officials stated.

The new, one-story, 8,000-square-foot building is a "fully functioning police station" with holding cells, locker rooms for officers, a roll call area for officers to gather at the start of their shifts, expanded storage areas for records, evidence and equipment, conference room and administration offices, county officials said. Comito Associates from Newark received a $177,500 contract to design the Sheriff's Patrol Headquarters. Aps Contracting from Paterson was awarded a publicly bid contract for $3,585,285 to construct the building. Construction of the building was funded through the Essex County Capital Budget. It was completed in seven months, 30 days ahead of schedule.

See related article: Here's Where Essex County Cops' New, $3.5M Headquarters Will Be Placed "This new and strategically located Patrol Division headquarters will further propel our entire department into 21st century community policing," Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura said. "Community policing is about bringing the police closer to the residents, and this new building will be a focal point for the neighborhood," Fontoura added. "[Newark's] West Ward will now have a centrally located precinct that will be fully staffed by our Patrol Division detective bureau and our county-wide traffic bureau. The facility will be fully equipped with all the most modern public safety and crime prevention tools."

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