The College Station Police Department wants to beef up its presence at Northgate with seven new police officers as that area grows.

The College Station City Council is expected to vote on Thursday to bring better coverage to the city.

The face of Northgate continues to change and College Station Police are hoping for a new presence, planning to bring in six new officers and one sergeant who would patrol the area during peak times at night.

Thomas Holt has called College Station home for 64 years.

"College Station is a growing community and it needs as much law enforcement as it can handle if not more, so yes we need it and I think it will be great," Holt said.

Police keep a large presence in south College Station, but Thursday thru Saturday nights, those officers have been pulled into the Northgate area.

Those new officers will alleviate that problem.

"As the city's grown the development that we see down in the southern end of town our ability to be able to pull people during those peak times is diminishing," said Chief Jeff Capps of the College Station Police Department.

Those new officers won't just be patrolling Northgate, but handling all calls along University drive from Texas Avenue to Wellborn Road.

"I think it'll help a lot we've always needed extra police," said Holt.

The department doesn't expect these new officers to be on the streets for another nine to twelve months.

The College Station City Council is expected to adopt the entire $253.1 million budget Thursday night at 7.

The seven officers and equipment are estimated to cost $895,681.