The Poplar Bluff Police Department will hold an official groundbreaking at 11:30 a.m. Friday for its new headquarters at 911 N. Shelby Road.
The event will be attended by Poplar Bluff Police Department Chief Danny Whiteley and several other local and state leaders.
Even though Whiteley describes Friday’s groundbreaking as a ceremonial event, he still is excited to see it take place.
“It’s something that we’re very proud of and we’re looking forward to it,” Whiteley said. “It’s kind of like getting permission to move forward. That’s what we’re doing.”
Poplar Bluff City Manager Matt Winters said the groundbreaking represents a major milestone on the police department’s quest to get a new home base.
“The city has been trying to get a police station for more than 10 years now,” Winters said. “It’s exciting to get them into a facility that adequately serves the needs of a modern day police department that is tasked with the complex and sometimes dangerous situations that our police department deals with.
“There are safety, security and technology features of this building that will protect our public and our police officers. The building has been designed and will be built to last well into the future as Poplar Bluff continues to grow and expand — and the demands on our department continue to increase.”
One of the reasons Whiteley is excited about the groundbreaking is that the new police station will be the first station in the almost 140-year history of the PBPD that is designed specifically for the department.
“Since the Poplar Bluff Police Department was formed in May 1883, I do not know of any police building that was built specifically for the police department for police department functions,” Whiteley said. “This is a first-ever event — and very few times in your life can you be involved in a first-ever event.”
The Poplar Bluff City Council voted to purchase the land for the new police headquarters in November 2019 and the city closed on the property in March 2020.
Winters said he anticipates the building being finished in the second half of 2022.
“As with any kind of a (project), particularly a government project, whether it be a new building, whether it be a swimming pool, a golf course or a coliseum or whatever, there’s always pros and cons that are for (and) are against it,” Whiteley said. “So it took a lot of coordination, a lot of planning and work, and referencing and preparation to explain to folks why this needed to be where it was located and why it needed to be the square footage that it is. It finally worked out and we’re very appreciative of that.”