LOWELL — Arkansas State Police plan to open a new Troop L headquarters and crime laboratory in Northwest Arkansas.
The 46,035-square-foot building will replace the troop’s site at 900 S. 48th St. in Springdale that’s only 6.5 miles south of the planned Lowell location. It will be built on 25 acres at 1120 West Monroe Ave. in Lowell, land the state purchased in 2011. Plans for the location have been in the works since 2005.
A groundbreaking for the headquarters could take place as soon as June or July, said State Police Maj. Lindsey Williams.
Lowell’s Planning Commission approved a permit and development for the project Tuesday night without discussion. Commission chairman Mitch Wright said the item was moved to the consent agenda because the project falls under state guidelines and required no approval by the city.
“Members of Arkansas State Police came to this meeting as a courtesy … to showcase their project,” Wright said.
Williams, Andy Branton, architect for the project and Capt. Lance King, troop commander, were in attendance.
“It’s more than a troop headquarters,” Williams said while addressing the commission. “Some IT facilities will be available and for trooper cars that need to be worked on, an auto shop will be there for some service work, a meeting room for other law enforcement agencies to use and it will consolidate criminal investigators and workers of the Crimes Against Children (Division), which are scattered now would be under one building.”
“I don’t see any negatives to this project.”
— Eldon Long, Lowell mayor
The headquarters is projected to employ 50 people and construction will include two parking lots to create 249 parking spaces, a CDL testing lot, a maintenance building, helipad, access drives, utilities and associated drainage structures and detention ponds, according to commission documents.
King estimated 35 uniformed troopers, 10 driver’s license testers, eight dispatch officers, six crime investigators, six Crimes Against Children Division workers and about six staff from the auto shop and IT services would make up the headquarters’ employees.
Williams estimated the new headquarters would serve 12 counties and 100 law enforcement agencies.
“That would be a huge benefit to the citizens of Northwest Arkansas,” Williams said.
The facility will provide about 10,000 square feet to the crime lab, said Bill Sadler, public information officer for Arkansas State Police. Preliminary estimates put construction at $14 million for the facility, but don’t include the cost of crime lab equipment, Sadler said.
Crime Laboratory Director Kermit Channell is working with architects of Hight Jackson to finalize lab plans.
Law enforcement officers are required to accompany evidence to the crime lab in Little Rock. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office estimated the practice requires 100 man hours per year. The distance causes crime lab staff members from Little Rock to use a full work day when testifying during trials, Channell said.
A crime lab in Northwest Arkansas would be beneficial for the state by cutting those costs.
“When this [headquarters] is built, it will save that manpower, which is a big deal,” King said.
The lab would handle primarily toxicology testing, bloodwork and fingerprinting, but wouldn’t provide autopsy services, Williams and King said.
Lab construction requires special considerations, such as its own heating and cooling system, fume hoods for ventilation and security. The crime lab’s only satellite location was built in Hope in 2004 for $2 million, an expense included in the budget of a community college expansion, according to state records. Another $200,000 was spent on equipment for the lab.
Lowell Mayor Eldon Long said the city could look forward to better emergency response times, the benefit a growing city income fueled by sales from headquarter employees and better training opportunities nearby.
Recently completed improvement to Exit 78 along Interstate 49 should provide the headquarters with better access to the highway and greater traffic flow.
“I don’t see any negatives to this project,” Long said. “We are in the center of the metro area, which is right where they need to be. We have a good relationship with state police. We’re happy to cooperate.”
April Wallace can be reached by email at awallace@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWAApril.