The McAllen Public Safety Building is getting an upgrade and it won't cost taxpayers a dime.
Over the past few years the McAllen Police Department has saved enough money from forfeited assets to build a $3.1 million, 16,000 foot expansion to the McAllen Public Safety Building.
Although the building is only ten years old, Police Chief Victor Rodriguez says during the past decade the department's job has drastically changed.
"Technology is changing the demand for work, and it’s changing what's expected from us and it's also changing how we must be performing,” Rodriguez said.
The two story addition will give more room to crime scene investigators and move the patrol division to the front of the building to create a better workflow.
"We move the patrol division to the front of the building so that when you walk into this building in the future you will see uniform officers receiving you at the front desk and working at the front desk,” Rodriguez said.
The department will also have more evidence storage space.
"We are busting at the seams when it comes to evidence storage,” Rodriguez said.
In addition, the department will build a state of the art training classroom at their northwest community center, to give officers a more realistic training experience.
"Nothing like this exists right now around the country,” Rodriguez said. “We are building the first of its kind."
Rodriguez says the addition will add 25 years of life to the building.
Construction is expected to begin in September 2013 and take about a year to complete.
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