Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office nears completion of new enforcement center

MOUNT VERNON, Mo. — The Lawrence County Sheriff's Office is a few steps closer to opening the doors to a new facility.

"It's one of those things, you know, everybody hates to move from a house to a new house or an apartment to a house or back and forth. And it's kind of like that," said Brad DeLay, Lawrence County Sheriff.

For the past few weeks, Lawrence County Sheriff Brad DeLay and his staff have been on a mission to get the brand-new Lawrence County Enforcement Center up and running.

"But we have most of our administrative offices and office staff transferred over right now. But for this week and really the week before, we've been working on some simple things," said DeLay.

That includes straightening up - hooking up fax lines and making sure the internet is up and running.

Voters approved a sales tax in November of 2021 to construct and operate the 23 million dollar project.

The new facility also includes a 120-plus-bed detention center, which replaces the previous 52-bed jail built in 1984.

"It's designed for right at about 125 beds right now, which is almost three times the capacity of what our current jail is," said DeLay.

If that limit is someday reached-- additional pods for up to 400 people can be added.

"That'll be a few years down the road. And that's why I say we have designed this and built it for expansion so that when the need comes, we can add those," said DeLay.

During the transition, the non-emergency contact line will not work.

The Sheriff's Office recommends using alternatives like the website, emails, and the dispatch line until everything is ready to go in a few weeks.

"With this new building comes challenges for us as well. But we know in the end it's certainly going to be worth it all," said DeLay.

The goal is to open its doors at the new facility before the end of the year.

Something Sheriff DeLay says he's looking forward to the most and that couldn't have been done without the community's support.

"We'll finally be able to bring together our jail, our detectives, our admin offices. The patrol offices will all be in one building now. So it will be kind of nice just to be able to see each other on essentially a daily basis," said DeLay.