Zachary Police set to move into new $8 million department facility.

The new building on Old Slaughter Road will house all functions of the department, including detective's offices, holding cells, training classrooms and a gym.

"So this job has been a long time coming," Chief of Police Darryl Lawrence said. "Myself and Mayor (David) McDavid, when he was chief, have been working on this project for the last five or six years. It's a good thing to see it come to a completion."

As Lawrence toured the facility, with its shining coated concrete floors, clear windows and new carpet smell, he pointed out each new feature.

The department's former facility, located on Main Street, housed both the city courthouse and the police department. It was the police department's home for all of Lawrence's 35 years with the force. But as Zachary grew, the courthouse needed more space, and the police department's elements, like the training classrooms, were slowly replaced.

"Here, I can have my whole department under one roof," Lawrence said of the new facility. "I can supervise everything from here; I can train here. It's easier to run a department when you're all in a central area."

The new building cost an estimated $8 million and was funded without a new tax or grants. It has two full-size classrooms for training officers. One of these rooms can also be set up as the "nerve center" for the department to issue messages during times of emergency. In the past, the Zachary Police Department relied on churches and schools to provide extra space for training events. The department's gym, funded through a grant, is nearby, which will allow officers to work out without a membership at a traditional gym. In the back of the facility, a covered chain-link fence and gate surround the door for prisoner entry. That will allow officers to park in an enclosed space while taking detainees to their holding cells.

"Let's hope it never happens, but if someone is able to get out of handcuffs, well, you're completely enclosed in here, so there's nowhere to go," Lawrence said.

The prisoner entry door leads to the new holding cells, half a dozen in all, and an attached interrogation room. There also is a new evidence room, with wall-length lockers and a pass-through locker system for officers to leave evidence with an attendant on the other side.

"So it provides proper chain of custody," Lt. Jordan Logan said.

The room also has refrigerators and dryers to store different kinds of evidence. Across the hall is the department's office for uniformed patrol, which includes nearly a dozen cubicles and a break area. Patrol shifts currently have six officers, but the space was built to provide for more at a time.

"We built with the idea of growth; our police department is continuing to grow," Lawrence said.

Some of the department's 65 employees have been working at other locations, but now all will be housed within the new facility. The growth of the police department and Zachary at large were the driving reasons for this move, McDavid said.

"Zachary is still growing, and we got future plans for other things here in Zachary," McDavid said. "Our goal is to keep the department with the resources to do their job. I've been on that side before, I understand what he needs. He's going to get what he needs."

As soon as the holding cells are completed, officers will begin to work out of the new building, Lawrence said. The entire department should be moved over by Jan. 1. The final touch will be completing the criminal information unit, where much of the department's monitors, such as license plate readers, will be housed. The delay is due to the installation of different information systems, some of which connect the department to the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, Lawrence said.

The old building will now fully serve as a courthouse, but McDavid sees that moving to a new building in the future as well.

Lawrence gave credit for the new building to his lieutenants and the city of Zachary.

"... and I was just picking out the paint," he laughed.