Baldwin Park : Police Department Partition

The City Council voted last week to install bulletproof glass in the Baldwin Park Police Department’s front lobby to protect records clerks from attack.

The four-foot-high front counter of the police station offers no real protection from angry or mentally unstable people, Police Chief Carmine Lanza said.

The bulletproof glass partition will run from the top of the counter to the ceiling, with three openings for passing paperwork through, and will be paid for by funds seized from suspects convicted of drug charges.

The lobby protection had been approved nearly two years ago, in May, 1991, but was put on hold when officials realized that it had to meet provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Lanza said.

Councilman Raul Martinez questioned the chief about the delay and said he “shuddered to think” of the city’s liability if an attack had taken place in the interim.