Grand opening planned for new St. Landry Parish sheriff’s headquarters

A grand opening is planned at 11 a.m. Tuesday for the new St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office Public Safety Complex, 1592 E. Prudhomme St., in Opelousas.
Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz said in a news release the $2.1 million facility will be opened for review. Deputies and detectives will be on hand to explain the facility and its high-tech, state-of-the-art design, he said.
The facility was built over the course of two years.
Sheriff Guidroz envisioned a serious need for a new, consolidated headquarters many years ago, even before he was elected in 2006, the news release stated.
For eight years after taking office, he set aside budgeted revenue towards the construction of the new facility, the news release stated. The facility was was planned, completed and paid for in cash, he said.
Prior to the opening of the new headquarters the various departments of the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office were located in many separate facilities across the parish.
In this facility, every department is under one roof.
In addition to every division being housed together, the facility includes the newest, most complete evidence processing and storage facility in the state, he said. Detectives now have immediate access to the type of evidence examination and processing that normally is available only to large, heavily-funded departments, like the Louisiana State Police and Baton Rouge Police Department, he said.