Construction began shortly after the Lebanon City Council approved the $6.2 million project in June 2018, and employees started moving into the building a few months ago.

“Over the last five years, we’ve been in three spaces at once,” Lebanon Police Chief Mike Justice said. “It’s been more than 20 years since we’ve had any kind of police building expansion, and this should serve us well into the future.”

The facility doubled the size of an existing PD building used for emergency communications to 28,000 square feet.

“Our old facility was built in the ‘80s and has definitely served its purpose, but its time to move,” Lebanon Police Department Sgt. P.J. Hardy said. “Over the last few years is when we’ve seen the majority of our growth, and we’d become displaced.”

Hardy said there were roughly 55 employees - both officers and civilian personnel - working at the department when he started in 2001, but that number has grown alongside the city itself to more than 150.

With the new building in place, the department’s former location at 406 Tennessee Blvd. will be used for both the Lebanon Street Department and municipal court.

“It’ll be a bigger office space for the street department to move into and have a little more room,” Lebanon Mayor Bernie Ash said. “We’re also looking into using the parking lot for the Little League ball fields.”

Another location on South Hartmann Drive has been given back to the city, and the department maintains a secondary facility at Carver Lane for evidence and to cover the west side of town.

The department’s new building brings a slate of technology upgrades in addition to helping with growth management. Chief among them is a dispatch center capable of withstanding heavy winds, seismic events and more.

“Think of it like a box within a box,” Hardy said. “It’s prefab concrete slabs from top to bottom, and I think it’s the safest area within the county during strong weather conditions. The door is bulletproof, shatterproof and can withstand 180 mph winds.”

The center includes four main consoles and an array of monitors with live feed capabilities, which will allow the department to better respond to events like the March 3 tornado.

“For many of us, myself included, it wasn’t until daylight that we were able to see the full extent of the tornado damage,” Hardy said. “We’ve also got a new radio system, and the biggest difference is that we’re going to be able to communicate directly with all our emergency agencies in the county.”

Neighboring agencies like the Metro Nashville Police Department are also included among the new system’s contacts. Previously, the department had to use multiple frequencies to connect to other first responders.

Officers are also seeing a major update to their in-car camera systems, and the city council recently approved new body cams to prevent audio and video loss.

“With the in-car camera system, there are pickups that will automatically download camera footage from in-car pickups,” Hardy said. “Officers used to have to take out a thumb drive with the footage on it, but now all they have to do is drive under the awning in our parking lot.”

Even the older wing of the building is seeing new uses, including a secondary training room, rear entry into the administrative offices and an upcoming history museum focused on the Lebanon PD.

The department also maintains its Emergency Communication Center there, where first responders from across the county coordinate during natural disasters - but the department’s plan now calls for them to meet in the new dispatch center during the initial impact.

“P.J. really took point on this, and he deserves a lot of credit for keeping us under budget,” Justice said. “The mayor and the city council have also been absolutely good to us in providing funding for the project.”

Local manufacturer American Wonder Porcelain also provided the tile for the building’s new wing, which Hardy said helped trim costs. As Lebanon continues its pattern of growth, the Lebanon PD is confident the facility can keep up with the pace.

“We designed the building to accommodate future growth, so all the detective’s offices were built for double occupancy,” Hardy said. “It’s hard to put a number on it because our road officers typically aren’t here, so growth in the PD doesn’t have a lot of impact on the building here, but we can safely add 12 to 15 detectives.”

Location was also an important factor for the project, and the building’s proximity to key locations in the county made it an easy choice.

“We’re right here on the edge of the fairgrounds,” Hardy said. “That’s obviously a big event and we don’t expect that to change anytime soon, so it benefits us to be close by. Our animal control facility is also across the parking lot, which is another huge step in bringing all our operations together.”