New King's County Sheriff's Office headquarters completed

HANFORD, Calif. (KFSN) -- After years of securing funds, planning and building, the Kings County Sheriff's Office will be moving into its new headquarters building.

On Friday, the department opened its doors to the public to see how the $8 million dollar project will be used to serve the community.

Sheriff Dave Robinson says one of the biggest advantages now that the headquarters on Kings County Dr. in Hanford is complete is that the jail, coroner, administration, investigators and deputies will all be based out of one central location.

"18 months later it looks like we will be moving in next week," he says.

Sheriff Robinson says after 58 years in the old Lacey Blvd. building, it was time for an upgrade.

Leaky ceilings, electric and technical limitations and distance between the sheriff's office's various buildings and jail were among the many issues.

"I won't miss that building one bit," says the Sheriff.

It took about $7 million from the state and about $1 million from the county for the new headquarters on Kings County Dr. to become reality. Sheriff Robinson says by going with a modular building constructed off-site and by choosing to build exterior stairs, KCSO saved about $1.5 million.

"We tried to think ahead knowing that this is going to be a building that's going to be here for a long time," said Sheriff Robinson.

Assistant Sheriff Dave Putnam was the project manager for it all. It's personal for him because it will stay in the family for years to come. His three kids and son-in-law all work for the sheriff's office.

At the entrance of the new building, there's a nod to the past - a small museum.

"This little area when you walk into the lobby is going to be the museum that's going to contain all our relics," said Putnam. "This was the original holding cell jail from the old jail that was out on Lacey from 1964 when that was built."

Down the hall, everything is more modern. There are three state-of-the-art interview rooms with the ability to record inside and remotely access the interview in real-time from any detective's desk.

Staff will have standing-optional desks, deputies will have an updated briefing room, and the investigators wing was built to house 18 detectives-giving the sheriff's office room to grow by 8 more in the future

The Kings County Sheriff's Office will begin to move into the new headquarters on Monday.

The process is expected to take two or three days.

As for the old KCSO building on Lacey Blvd., it's likely to be knocked down and turned into a parking lot for other county buildings.