LEWISTON — Lewiston police officers are going back to school — sort of.

After years of discussion, the Police Headquarters has moved from a small office in the Village of Lewiston to the much larger former administration building on Lewiston- Porter Central School District campus.

Rent for the new space at 4059 Creek Road will be a token $1 per year.

Why did school officials go for such a deal?

You can’t buy that kind of a “security system,” they said, adding that the district building, too, was paid for by local taxpayers.

“The two needs just came together at the right time. What a wonderful, terrific deterrent,” Assistant Superintendent Donald Rappold said. “It warns people we do have a police presence and will make someone think twice. And it’s also being proactive.”

Rappold said the administration building closed a year ago when the district moved its leaders into the old community resource center. School officials had been talking about moving the police department into the building for two years before that, because of dangerous incidents happening on campuses across the country.

“Every school would love to have a continual police presence on their campus,” Superintendent R. Christopher Roser said, “and I can guarantee you right now people are going 35 miles per hour past our school. This is a win-win for everyone. To charge them more [than $1] would be foolish. It’s a great opportunity.”

The deal also includes the town providing some plowing services for the school and the police department providing some training for district staff.

Police Chief Christopher Salada said his department got a lot of walk-in complaints in the village and doesn’t want to give the impression that their doors are closed in the village.

“We’ll still be glad to meet people in the village, just like we will meet people in Sanborn, or Colonial Village or anywhere,” Salada said.

He said that in general callers will notice little difference. The phone numbers for the department will remain the same, and the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office will continue to provide backup service.

The Lewiston-Porter campus straddles the towns of Lewiston and Porter, with 70 percent in Lewiston and 30 percent in Porter, but the new Police Headquarters sits squarely in the Town of Lewiston.

Salada also serves as police chief for the Village of Youngstown, in Porter. The village force has one car, and often relies on backup from the Sheriff’s Office and the Town of Lewiston.

Asked if the edge of the Town of Porter is too far away for a Town of Lewiston Police headquarters, Salada said the main headquarters is just a base.

“We’ve gained so much space and the office space is wonderful, but when we get a call we come to you,” Salada said.

He acknowledged that moving headquarters might be a step in the direction of merging the two towns into a single police department.

Lewiston Town Supervisor Fred M. Newlin II agreed.

“A lot of people believe that a combined Lewiston-Porter police department is a possibility and this step might make it easier,” he said.

Newlin also said the village site that housed 14 officers was overcrowded.

“As services increase, there’s a lot more paperwork and evidence, and the current site was too small,” the supervisor said. “Policing has also gone high-tech, which requires more space.”

More than $100,000 in grant funding paid for a new communication system, new printers, new computers, a live scan finger-printing system and a smart board/projection computer system.

Salada said the department also used a grant for a $6,000 Segway that can be used to patrol around the campus.

Village Board member and Town Councilman-elect Michael Marra said the village already has received some inquiries about the rental of the police headquarters site in the village.

Former Village of Lewiston Mayor Richard F. Soluri said when the town and village consolidated the police department in 1996, they had only planned to keep the department in the village for about five years.

“We just rode along with that and now it’s been [longer],” he said. “It served it’s purpose for a long time, but it’s just been too cramped.”

Soluri said the move closer to Youngstown might also foster a combined Lewiston-Porter police department.

“I think the Village of Youngstown is open to consolidation, but [the Town of] Porter has walked away from the idea,” he said. “I think the four governments should renew discussions. I think the cost is reasonable, affordable and it would help everybody.”