After over a century of waiting, the Poplar Bluff Police Department is getting a building exclusively it’s own. The public is invited to a rare, all-access open house from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday at 911 Shelby Road.
“This department has never had a building specially built for the PD. It’s always been shared, rehabbed or rebuilt,” said Chief Danny Whiteley.
Whiteley has a copy of a city council resolution from 1883 establishing getting the police department its own space a priority, but it has had a series of temporary homes since that time.
This was the case with the Poplar Street location the department has been based for seven years. Now, the department is upgrading from 8,000 square feet to 27,000 square feet, with communications and storage on site. Members of the department have been spread out across multiple sites for the past seven years.
“We haven’t had dispatch with us for (over) five years and now they’ll be in the same building,” Whiteley said, “and that will enhance relationships between the communication division and everybody — patrol, administration, so forth and so on.”
Other notable features include a better forensics lab, extensive security features, a tornado shelter and a monitored childcare space. According to Deputy Chief Mike McClain, the larger meeting rooms provide opportunities for interdepartmental and multi-agency training. Whitely explained the facility also meets all state, federal and CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies) requirements “for appropriate handling of evidence, of juveniles, of female prisoners.”
Overall, he noted, “We don’t have bad morale, but it’ll certainly make our officers proud of where they’re at.”
The occupancy for the event is 375 people. Due to rain delays, the parking lot is incomplete and so the northbound lanes of Shelby Road will be closed from the police department to Roxie Road for parking. Golf carts will ferry guests to and from their cars.
The facility is just shy of being finished, explained McCain and Whiteley. This works to visitors’ advantage.
“If it was totally done and we had officers and equipment in there, there’s be some places the public couldn’t go,” said Whiteley.
The department is expected to be completely moved in by Sept. 9. Staff will begin moving over in stages.