New Police Station to Open in Lawrence

City officials broke ground on a new police station in Lawrence Wednesday.

Lawrence Mayor, Steve Collier says the new building has been a long time coming. The Lawrence Police Department has been working from a temporary location for more than 10 years.

He says the new station will foster economic development.

"We’ve already had people who want to invest now along Post Road leading into Fort Harrison," Collier says. "So it’s going to be a big deal for the city." 

The new location is down the street from Fort Harrison State Park.

Chief of Police David Hofmann says the new station will include a fitness center, a media room and a community room.

"The new police headquarters will be a state of the art facility that will meet our needs of police officers, detectives, civilian support staff, chaplains, 911 operators, and even our very active youth explorer program," Hofmann says. "We’re going to be set for decades."

Construction is scheduled to be completed in mid-2019.