By Alisa Boswell
The New Year will be bringing new housing to local law enforcement as both the Portales Police Department and the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office prepare themselves for new homes.In the latter half of 2016, the Portales Magistrate Court moved from the U.S. 70 highway (Chicago Avenue) after the construction of its new building next to the PPD and the Roosevelt County Detention Center on Boston Avenue.
Now, the Portales Police Department has outgrown its current home next door and is looking to move – by relocating into none other than the former magistrate court building.
“Basically, we’ve outgrown this building,” Detective Charlie Smart said, adding that when the magistrate court was built next door to the police department, the PD lost office and storage space, making the department even smaller. “So that’s what put things into motion, because we’re just outgrowing it.”
The city will be buying the former court building on the highway from a private owner while the sheriff’s office will be moving back into the county-owned police department building once the PD has moved out.
“Ultimately, we wouldn’t be moving, but the building we are in is in such disrepair, and the county doesn’t have the money to fix it, especially when they already own a building that can house us,” said Sheriff Malin Parker.
Parker said the sheriff’s office was located in the Boston Avenue building from the time of its construction in the 1980’s to about 2008.
Sadly, going back to its original home means a loss of space for the sheriff’s office, said Parker, but he feels the move is going to be a good thing for the community overall.
“I think it has a lot of benefits, particularly with being centrally located for county citizens,” said Parker. “I don’t really feel like our response time has ever been a problem, because we take that very seriously, but the building being more centrally located can’t hurt.”
But the city police department will be gaining space with their new home, according to Smart.
“It’s gonna be perfect. We’re gonna have room out there to add on in the future if we need to,” he said. “We’ll have plenty of room for evidence; it’s just going to be better for everyone.”
Although the plan to move to the former court building has been in the works for the past year, Smart said he does not anticipate the department moving into the building before the middle of next year.
Paperwork to finish purchasing the building is still being completed, and the building needs to be remodeled, which could take up to six months, depending on weather and other factors.
But one way or another both departments should be in new homes before the 2018 year is out.
“Everybody from the city manager to the (police) chief, all the way through the ranks in this department, the city councilors, are all pushing hard (to get it done),” Smart said.
