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Highlands Today

Sheriff Shows Off Plans For New Facility

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

From left: Carl Cool and John Alleyne look at site plans of the new Highlands County Sheriff's Office Law Enforcement Facility on Wednesday.

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By Dan  Fearson | Highlands Today

Published: December 6, 2007

SEBRING — Highlands County Sheriff Susan Benton is excited to talk about her office's new $11.1 million law enforcement facility that is scheduled to begin construction next year off of West George Boulevard, just west of U.S. 27, in south Sebring.

"(The new facility) will be an important development, which will help with the health and safety of our staff," said Benton.

On Wednesday afternoon, Benton, along with several employees from the sheriff's office, were present for a meeting in front of new site-facility designer Architects Design Group Inc., of Winter Park, at the DeSoto City Volunteer Fire Department station.

Ian Reeves, vice president of ADG, said that most of the firm's work involves designing public safety sector facilities and that the displays that were on hand Wednesday were from the proposed site's initial design phase.

The new facility will feature state-of-the-art crime labs and a crime processing center.

"Our current facility is so old that specific areas have not kept up with crime demands," said Benton. "There is absolutely no room for growth in certain sections."

Because of an increase in the number of inmates in the county jail, and a growing number of raids, including the department's marijuana growhouse campaign, space has dwindled. Benton estimated that the department spends approximately $1,000 per month on privatized storage areas to keep evidence confiscated during growhouse busts.

Besides being larger, the storage facility and evidence room at the new facility will have swinging shelves and cabinets which will allow for a better use of space.

Benton also said that currently tactical support and special response teams have to dress out and deploy outside of the department headquarters, which forces them to keep some of their equipment inside department vehicles. Benton said that often the teams are forced to be briefed on their way to the scene of a crime or after they've already arrived.

These problems will be avoided in the future, as the new department will feature equipment storage rooms for armor, and briefing, dress-out and deployment areas for specials response teams.

The new facility will also feature offices and service areas which will meet or exceed certification for the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation standards. The facility will be paid for by money provided by Highlands County's one-cent sales tax, which is used for capital improvement projects.

According to the sheriff's office chief of staff Lisa McGahee, the setup of the office will allow deputies to work more fluidly with the Highlands County Emergency Operations Center, which is located next to the site.

"In the event of an emergency, we will be better able to communicate with officials from the EOC," said McGahee, who also noted that the new facility will be located next to the office's current fueling station off of West George Blvd, west of U.S. 27.

"We looked at three different sites before we decided on this one," said McGahee. "This one just seemed to make the most sense logistically. Our jail is growing and it's pushing our staff out."

The project is being situated on 8.8 acres of land, and the facility will be 53,000 square feet.

"One of the special features of the project will be a community meeting room, which is not included in a lot of projects," said Susan Gantt, the project's architect, for ADG. "(Benton) was also very vocal with the fact that she wanted an office on the first floor. Usually the sheriffs have their offices near the second floor."

The facility will also feature a new impound lot. Gantt said she expected construction to begin in the fall of 2008 and the facility to open by March 2010.

According to McGahee, after the new facility is opened, the sheriff's old facility, located downtown, will have parts demolished and be used to help with jail operations.

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