Facebook funds a police substation in Menlo Park

Facebook has given some of its money and a bit of its open-source attitude for a new home for Menlo Park’s officers in blue. A new Menlo Park Police Department substation and neighborhood service center will open its doors Saturday in the Belle Haven section of the city. The facility is designed to encourage collaboration between members of the public and the police who serve them amid exposed rafters, Bauhaus-inspired furniture and brushed concrete floors.

On Saturday, in the presence of local dignitaries, the local police department opened up a new substation in the neighborhood of Belle Haven, just a short block down the street from Facebook’s massive corporate headquarters. This is no ordinary police station. Its renovation, rent, and one officer’s salary have been substantially paid for by Facebook, to the tune of $600,000 over the next two years. This wealthy Silicon Valley city of 32,000 people boasts a median household income of over $113,000. Kepler’s, a well-known independent bookstore, is one of the retail anchors of its downtown corridor. So far this year, the median home sales price in Menlo Park has been $1.5 million.