Centerville Police All Moved-In

CENTERVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Officers and staff of the Centerville Police Department have a new home.

They recently moved from their old police station, located at 500 Houston Lake Blvd., into a new building, located at 308 Church Street.

The new Centerville Police Station was built with 2012 SPLOST money. The penny sales tax funds were also used to renovate the city’s old library to create the Centerville Municipal Court.

“We’re very excited about moving into our new building,” says Centerville Asst. Police Chief W.G. Cooley. “Everything’s fresh and new and it’s really like having Christmas.”

Although, detectives and command staff are still unpacking they admit, they are enjoying their spacious offices. The officers say they grew out of the old building. Police Chief Sidney Andrews says he is still trying to get use to the bright lighting in his office. Andrews old office only had one light because the others had stop working.

The police chief says the old building was nearly 60 years old. It was costing the city thousands of dollars every year to repair air conditioning units and wiring. There were some safety issues at the old police station.

The new building has a sally port. It is a garage that allows officers to transport suspects in and out of the building safely inside an enclosed area, according to Centerville Police Chief Sidney Andrews.

“At our old police building the officers would have to pull up to the door, and essentialy take a suspect out of the car and walk them across the parking lot in to an open area of the building,” said Chief Andrews. “This increased the risk of escapes. In fact, in the past few years we have had two escapes and an officer involved shooting, which was related to one of those escapees. So we’re real excited about this area.”