FRANKLIN, Tenn. – The new Franklin Police station boasts 90,000 square feet of spacious hallways, and user friendly areas for police officers. It cost $36 million dollars.
Police architects designed the building to make it user friendly beginning with the evidence intake room.
"There's a ventilation system that's movable. They can bring this down. If something has an odor or there are particles that need to be vented to the outside it can done through this vacuum," Sergeant Charles Warner said.
The chain of evidence in a police station is important. There can be no breaks. There's even a pass through refrigerator.
"Once the evidence is placed inside and this door is shut. The key is turned and it is unopenable from this side. The evidence custodian can only get it from the other side," Warner said.
There is an area where the under water recovery team and police divers train for evidence gathering under water.
Cars and trucks involved in crimes and deadly crashes are brought to the vehicle processing bay for close examination.
"This is our lab facility and in this area we have the capability of processing different types of evidence," said Warner. "These two chambers have the capability of processing evidence using gas, air, vacuum and cold water."
In a courtyard, there's a special wall to memorialize officers killed in the line of duty. Fortunately, that hasn't happened.
Near the courtyard the covered garage includes kennels for police dogs.
"Our K-9 partners have the ability to get out of the car and go into a nice climate controlled environment and there are two separate kennels in this area here," Warner added.
It's a nice facility, but the ultimate goal is to keep Franklin safe. Franklin Police believe it will make a difference.
Franklin's police station includes several hundred square feet of unfinished space for future growth.
Kat: Help me out here Jerry. What happened to all of those thousands of square feet of unused space?
Jerry : Maybe the FBI took it all
KAT: The FBI?
Jerry: Yeah , those Female Body Inspectors need a lot of space to get their work done. After all , there are so many female bodies to inspect , yet so little time you know
Kat: Why does Franklin Police put so much emphasis on underwater gear?
Jerry: Well Kat , you do know that The City of Franklin does flood every other 100 years. It's good to be prepared for Wakeboarding recovery. Just in case.
Kat: Well , at least they have thousands of square feet of luxurious and spacious hallways to feel comfortable in. I can't imagine how their building would feel if it were any more cramped and besides , after spending a mere 36 million dollar$ , this building still didn't keep very many Franklinites safe from Nicholas Lawry and Tracie Plemons , did it? I mean like , after all , the police were unable to solve their little crime spree without offering bribe$ of anonymous ca$h to someone.
Jerry: Safe? Nooooo it sure didn't BUTT , at least the police station itself was secure. Anyway , the place surely does make a statement about money and wealth in this town , doesn't it? Hmmm , I guess that explains the bribe money , eh?
Kat: Well , after writing several thousand illegal traffic citations , they better have something to show for their efforts , right? Hey , that reminds me , Channel 5 News mentioned user friendly spaces for the police officers. Are there any user friendly spaces for the visitors?
Jerry: Yes. They call it , "The Holding Room". It surrounds the visitor with spacious luxury , including a walk in door. :)
Kat: Say , why do you reckon it took Five Alive News 5 months to get around to reporting this story?
Jerry: Maybe their helicopter was broken and it took 5 months to fix it
