Family members of Detective Michael Raburn and Sgt. Samuel Hicks helped cut the ribbon to officially reopen Precinct 3 in Maple Valley on Tuesday morning.
King County Sheriff John Urquhart, Congressman Dave Reichert, and King County Executive Dow Constantine as well as city officials from Maple Valley and Covington, members of law enforcement and community members gathered at the precinct on Tuesday for the ceremony.
Precinct 3 is also known as the Hicks-Raburn Precinct, or Southeast Precinct.
The two men who are honored at the precinct, and also at a memorial in Lake Wilderness Park, were killed in the line of duty in the 1980s.
“There are a lot of memories here when you talk Hicks-Raburn,” Reichert said at the reopening ceremony. “This building is more than a building, it’s a memorial.”
Urquhart spoke about the philosophy of community policing and the importance of giving the community a place to come to.
“It is a great day for the community in Southeast King County,” Urquhart said. “You have a police station to go to again.”
Precinct Commander Maj. Brad Thompson explained in October that the closing of the precinct came about two years ago in response to the sheriff’s office moving from a precinct model to a zones model in order to cut costs. Now the sheriff’s office is moving back to a precinct model.
The building has three holding cells and a locker room, as well as community and private meeting room spaces.
The property and building are both owned by the county.
Thompson, as well as captains, four professional staff, eight patrol sergeants, a detective sergeant, four detectives, and 51 deputies will work out of the precinct.
The long term plan for Precinct 3 also includes taking down the north fence and building a covered parking area where special operations can store its variety of armored and other vehicles that need to be sheltered from the elements, according to Thompson. Currently those vehicles are stored at sites around the county. The precinct will also become home to the special operations unit.
