Hamilton’s new Justice Center close to opening

Hamilton Police Department set to begin live operations this week, and Municipal Court expected to move in early 2025.
The Hamilton Police Department has begun the move-in process to the 64,000-square-foot, $32 million Hamilton Justice Center that spans from South 8th Street to Hanover Street, and sits across from the Butler County Sheriff's Office. The police department will move in this month and the courts will move in early 2025. MICHAEL D. PITMAN/STAFF

Credit: Michael D. Pitman

Credit: Michael D. Pitman

The Hamilton Police Department has begun the move-in process to the 64,000-square-foot, $32 million Hamilton Justice Center that spans from South 8th Street to Hanover Street, and sits across from the Butler County Sheriff's Office. The police department will move in this month and the courts will move in early 2025. MICHAEL D. PITMAN/STAFF
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Updated Dec 9, 2024
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Starting Tuesday, Hamilton police officers will begin working out of the department’s new home at the Hamilton Justice Center, which the city’s police chief calls “a massive change” for the public safety operation.

Some 20 months after breaking ground on the Hamilton Justice Center on South Eighth Street, which spans from Walnut to Hanover streets, the 64,000-square-foot facility that cost $32 million to build will also house the city’s police department and municipal court, which operates on the second floor at One Renaissance Center. But the court won’t move until early 2025 to be sure all the kinks are worked out first, said Public Safety Director Scott Scrimizzi.

The new state-of-the-art justice center also means the end of the police department operating out of a former Kroger building on South Front Street, an antiquated building around 24,000 square feet that was never designed to be a police station. The Hamilton Justice Center will offer the department and courts more than just room to stretch out and grow, said Hamilton Police Chief Trent Chenoweth, who spent more than three decades at the South Front Street station.

“This building was designed to be a police department, with meeting areas so units can come together, have conversations, share information,” the chief said. “This space is phenomenal.”

Improved communication can also mean cases can be investigated more efficiently. Hamilton Police Lt. Patrick Erb, who’s in charge of the department’s Investigations Section, said detectives on South Front Street did not work in the same room, which limited communication.

“In this job, you just learn so much being around other people doing it,” he said, “so you were splitting the information almost in half sometimes. Just having everybody in the same room means a lot.”

Chenoweth said the building will serve as a recruiting tool to attract police candidates.

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The Hamilton Police Department has begun the move-in process to the 64,000-square-foot, $32 million Hamilton Justice Center that spans from South 8th Street to Hanover Street, and sits across from the Butler County Sheriff's Office. The police department will move in this month and the courts will move in early 2025. MICHAEL D. PITMAN/STAFF

Credit: Michael D. Pitman

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Credit: Michael D. Pitman

“Our (old) facility really didn’t do much in terms of appeal to new officers,” he said.

The state-of-the-art facility can more than accommodate the department’s authorized strength of nearly 120 officers, which includes patrol, administrative and corrections officers. From high-tech lockers large enough for an officer’s gear and personal items and a cruiser key management system to a more secure property room and expanded forensics laboratory, Chenoweth said, “We’re going to be one of the best in the area. There’s no question about it.”

Move-in started last week with administrative positions, and patrol operations are moving in this week, the chief said. And beginning Tuesday, “we’ll start live operations with everyone, and then we’ll run forward from there.”

There are still a few FF&E items that need to be installed and delivered, and the court won’t move in until the police department’s settling in is completed, Scrimizzi said. It’ll be a reunion of sorts when the courts move in, as the two agencies operated for a time out of South Front Street before One Renaissance Center was built a generation earlier.

Scrimizzi said once the police department and courts are completely moved out of their current locations, as well as Fire Station 26 in Lindenwald is vacated (that project is expected to be completed in early 2025), the city will put out requests for proposals on the two buildings and the second floor at One Renaissance Center.

The Hamilton Police Department has begun the move-in process to the 64,000-square-foot, $32 million Hamilton Justice Center that spans from South 8th Street to Hanover Street, and sits across from the Butler County Sheriff's Office. The police department will move in this month and the courts will move in early 2025. MICHAEL D. PITMAN/STAFF

Credit: Michael D. Pitman

icon to expand image

Credit: Michael D. Pitman

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Michael D. Pitman has been a reporter in southwest Ohio since 1999. He's covered local governments in Warren and Butler counties, as well as state and national issues. He currently covers the cities of Fairfield and Hamilton.