CROTHERSVILLE

The Crothersville Police Department has run out of room.

Its evidence room also has become a place to store armory and other items, and the break room has been converted into an office to gain office space for the four full-time officers.

Capt. J.L. McElfresh recently shared that issue with the town council in hopes of adding onto the back side of the building at 404 Moore St.

He wasn’t sure of the exact cost, but if it’s above $75,000, they would have to advertise for formal quotes.

McElfresh said they also are interested in building two garage bays in the yard east of the police department. One would be a secure bay with a wall in between it and the other bay where a stolen vehicle or other type of evidence could be stored to process. The other bay would give officers an opportunity to pull their vehicles in and out of the weather.

That would connect to the new evidence room and possibly have an area with a sink, a refrigerator and some lockers.

If both projects are put on the table, Clerk-Treasurer Terry Richey said that may go above $150,000, so she suggested doing one project at a time. One could be done this year, and the other one could be done next year.

McElfresh was advised to get quotes and specifications and present them to the council, and then a decision would be made.

If it’s done in two phases, he said the evidence room is the top priority.

“We definitely need evidence space right now with everything that’s in there,” he said. “It’s being used as storage, and some of that will clear up. When I can actually get some time to finish up that office, some of that will come back out of there. There has just never been a large enough room for evidence and everything else that needs to be done.”

Any expenses related to the project would come from the police department’s building fund.

McElfresh suggested doing the wiring himself to save some money, but Councilman Bob Lyttle thought it would be best to leave everything to the contractor.

Also, since this would be a public building, it will have be built to code.