Photographs from a tour of Lawrence Police Department operations, which are spread over six buildings throughout town — a circumstance that department leaders say produces significant inefficiencies. Lawrence Police Chief Tarik Khatib is hoping Lawrence city commissioners and the community will support the construction of a new police headquarters building.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Tarik Khatib, Chief of Police says a new building could include more storage racks and retrieval systems to improve storage efficiency for the hundreds of boxes of records that are presently taking up a lot of space at the Investigations and Training Center, 4820 Bob Billings Parkway..

photo by: Mike Yoder

A bucket with a note explaining the need to leave the bucket in place to catch water from a leaking ceiling, sits in room at the Investigations and Training Center, 4820 Bob Billings Parkway.

photo by: Mike Yoder

This panorama photograph shows Lawrence Police Captain Paul Fellers standing inside a small locker-room at Investigations and Training Center, 4820 Bob Billings Parkway.

Tarik Khatib, Chief of Police walks a dark hallway at the Investigations and Training Center, 4820 Bob Billings Parkway. The building has no generator for a back-up power supply.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Currently the city police department is largely split between the patrol division downtown at the law enforcement center, which also houses Douglas County District Court and the sheriffs administration, and the Lawrence police detectives and administration in west Lawrence at the Investigations and Training Center, 4820 Bob Billings Parkway. At the training center, there is only one training room.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Lawrence Police department evidence officer Keith Jones works surrounded by mountain of containers that fill the main evidence storage room on the second floor of the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St. The room is in the former gym from when that part of the building was a jail, and it now includes a steel staircase for two makeshift floors inside.

photo by: Mike Yoder

A mountain of boxes fill the main evidence storage room on the second floor of the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th Street. The room is in the former gym from when that part of the building was a jail, and it now includes a steel staircase for two makeshift floors inside.

photo by: Mike Yoder

With a limit on space the police department has evidence stored in more than one place, including at the city-owned former Mortons Building Materials Inc. building, 900 E. 15th St., where items like these bicycles are contaminated with mold because the building leaks. Police chief Tarik Khatib has used the space restrictions for evidence storage as one example in urging city leaders to explore building a new law enforcement facility to house the entire department..

photo by: Mike Yoder

Tarik Khatib, Chief of Police, left and Lawrence Police Captain Paul Fellers look over police vehicles located at the former fire station at Stone Barn Terrace and Lawrence Avenue. Vehicles are parked so that in some cases, one needs to be moved out of the building to get to another vehicle. Police officers needing to use the vehicles, including patrol motorcycles, have to drive from the Investigations and Training Center, 4820 Bob Billings Parkway or the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St. to access them. Lawrence police operations are spread over six different buildings throughout town, which department leaders say produces significant inefficiencies.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Lawrence police officer Laurence Corder checks to make sure equipment is in working order in a DUI/Traffic Enforcement vehicle located at the former fire station at Stone Barn Terrace and Lawrence Avenue. Lawrence police operations are spread over six different buildings throughout town, which department leaders say produces significant inefficiencies.

photo by: Mike Yoder

In addition to the main evidence storage room on the second floor of the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St., Lawrence Police department evidence officer Keith Jones also oversees evidence in storage at the Douglas County Public Works Shop at 801 E. 23rd St. The building has no heat or air-conditioning. Khatib has used the space restrictions for evidence storage as one example in urging city leaders to explore building a new law enforcement facility to house the entire department..