Back in May, residents of Milton-Freewater made a big sacrifice and followed through on a good decision to pass a $7.7 million bond for a new police department building.

Soon, the city police department will move out of the cramped, obsolete space into an upgraded, 7,200-square-foot new station.

A new police station was way overdue. The current one, used for nearly a century for the police department, stuffed 20 employees into a small work area where doing such basic police procedures as interviewing witnesses was problematic.

The new station will deliver a host of new benefits for the police, including more space to interview witnesses. The station also will be furnished with new technology and an automated fingerprinting system.

Most of all, though, the station will be new and the city’s police force will jump from an office structure better fit for the 1950s to a modern facility.

The decision by city voters was not an easy one. But once a city decides it needs a police force then it also has an obligation to ensure its police department is resourced in an adequate manner. Forking over more dollars for public infrastructure can be a hard sell, but it shouldn’t be when the subject involves police or fire and rescue departments.

Investing in police and fire resources is never, ever a bad idea. In fact, a solid argument could be made that funding police and fire through tax dollars is the best way to use income derived from residents.

No one likes to pay taxes but when the expenditure is for police or fire, the cost is really an investment. An investment that pays for itself with safe streets and a fire department that is manned in an adequate fashion with the newest and best equipment and ready to respond to an emergency.

The simple fact is we need police and fire personnel. That means, though, that we must always ensure they have the best equipment and best facilities from which to do their jobs. We may bemoan the cost, but when there is an emergency no one usually starts to ask questions about costs. Instead, they want someone — a cop or a fireman — to be on the scene helping them.

We believe the votes in Milton-Freewater made the best decision possible and we also believe they will see that their investment will pay off many times into the future.