SLO County police station was at ‘end of its life.’ Then it got big funding boost
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- Rep. Panetta helped secure $850,000 federal grant for new auxiliary dispatch center.
- $4.2M remodel funded by Measure D‑20, with $850K federal grant added.
- New dispatch and repurposed space expand capacity and support future hiring.
The Atascadero police station is getting an upgrade, with a little help from a Central Coast congressman and federal dollars.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Santa Cruz, visited the station on Wednesday to announce an $850,000 federal grant for a brand-new auxiliary dispatch center adjacent to the existing Atascadero Police Department building at 5505 El Camino Real.
“That is our job: to get stuff done, especially when it comes to making sure the power of the federal purse is felt right here at Atascadero,” Panetta said Wednesday at a news conference at the station announcing the grant.
The federal grant Panetta helped secure, provided through the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill, is just the “icing on the cake” of the $4.2 million station remodeling project that will revamp the 66-year-old police building, according to Atascadero Police Chief Daniel B. Suttles.
The remainder of the project’s funding comes from taxpayer dollars directed through the city’s Measure D-20.
“This building now is going to last us decades to come, whereas right now, it’s at its end of the life,” Suttles said.
How will Atascadero’s police station be remodeled?
Originally built in 1960 as a storefront and remodeled in the 1990s to fit the needs of the Police Department, the Atascadero Police Headquarters building is due for an upgrade.
Those improvements include repurposing an old jail area, opening up more office space and constructing a 1,100-square-foot dispatch center housed in a separate building next to the old station.
The federal dollars will specifically go toward building and outfitting the dispatch center.
Constructing a new center rather than attaching it to the existing building avoids costly retrofits that would be required for tearing down the station’s old walls, Suttles said.
With the funding in place, construction on the project that has been in the works for years can finally break ground as early as the end of March, taking about a year to complete, he said.
“It’s very, very difficult to find this type of funding,” Suttles said. “ ... Sometimes these projects just don’t happen without it, so to make something like that possible for us is something that we’re extremely excited for.”
The current dispatch center covers approximately 800 square feet of space, enough for three consoles.
Moving dispatch into the larger space will allow for one additional console, which is essential as safety demands increase, Suttles said.
“I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but I’m telling you, it’s going to expand our capabilities quite a bit,” he said. “We can handle more calls at one time. We can handle a major event while we’re handling calls for service at the same time. We can handle more people.”
As Atascadero’s population continues to grow, Suttles predicts he will need to hire eight to 10 more officers in the coming years — and he needs a station to support them.
“Without going and making these renovations to this department, I wouldn’t be able to fit them,” he said.
Moving dispatch will free up space in the main building for additional offices, a report-writing room or any other requested uses, Suttles said.
The existing building also has an old jail cell area that has been idle for years, used only as storage. With showers, toilets and plumbing already built in, the Police Department plans to remodel the space as women’s locker rooms, allowing the existing men’s locker room area to also expand.
The police chief emphasized that none of the department’s work could be possible without the support of the Atascadero community.
“You support your local police department — that gives us the capability to expand and grow so that we can better serve the citizens,” Suttles said. “That’s really what it’s all about, that symbiotic relationship. We support them, they support us, and we can grow together.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2026 at 9:00 AM.
