The city unanimously passed a resolution to move parts of their investigations unit into a leased property starting next week
PERRY, Ga. — Perry police detectives will soon move out of their cramped quarters into a newly leased office building, nearly doubling their workspace as the department continues to grow with the city.
The Perry City Council unanimously approved a plan to lease a 2,818-square-foot commercial building at 902 Northside Drive for the Criminal Investigations Division (CID). The space will provide relief for 11 staff members currently sharing less than 2,000 square feet.
“We’re pretty cramped. You have a division commander who has an office, and then you put three or four investigators in a space that’s about 8 by 9, 8 by 10, four desks, computers, monitors, all that,” Police Chief Alan Everidge said.
The space constraints have forced the department to scatter detectives throughout their current building, hampering their ability to collaborate on cases.
“They lose a little bit of that ability to communicate about the cases going on,” Everidge said.
The city will pay $65,400 annually for the lease, utilities and telecommunications at the former real estate office. The police department will cover additional costs for security and equipment through its Confiscated Assets Fund.
“Actually, we think that the lease rate we’re able to obtain with this project is quite competitive. If you look at lease rates around Perry, commercial spaces are averaging around $25 per square foot, and we were able to obtain this space for $17 per square foot,” Assistant City Manager Robert Smith said.
The department plans to sign the lease next week and begin moving immediately. The new space will serve as a temporary solution until the completion of the City Campus project in early 2027.
Smith said the space issues have persisted for at least a decade but have become more pressing as the division has grown from three to 11 staff members, including eight detectives, two evidence technicians and one secretary.
The move will provide dedicated space for evidence processing, which currently requires displacing staff from other rooms. It will also create permanent areas for specialized equipment.
“Whether it’s polygraphs or being able to have the equipment set up to download phones or laptops for evidence, this will give us some dedicated space to do that,” Everidge said.
The expansion reflects the city’s commitment to supporting law enforcement growth alongside Perry’s population increase, according to department leadership.
“We’re blessed that we have a mayor and council that supports law enforcement and making sure we have what we need to keep this community safe,” Everidge said. “This place is really gonna help us become, I believe, even more efficient and effective than we already are.”
The department has previously stored evidence in other city facilities due to space limitations. While evidence storage will remain at the current location, the additional space will improve evidence processing capabilities and allow investigators to work more efficiently in a unified location.
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