The City of Washington started work this week on a new evidence building for the police department.
For years, the Washington Police Department stored evidence at the police station. After learning evidence storage facilities may not have been up to code, the department began storing evidence in a shared building with the city’s public works department.
A February 2024 fire forced the department to find another new evidence storage option. Since then, the department has used a rented building in East Peoria.
In June 2024, the Washington Police Department’s deputy chief estimated the rental arrangement was costing $2,000 a month plus transportation costs.
“That always could be problematic, when you see our police officers taking evidence and seeing our cars in other cities and things,” said Mayor Gary Manier. “So, we secured grants, almost a million and a half to a $2.4 million building.”
The grants a combined pool of state and federal funding. Manier says approximately $583,000 in federal funding was secured with help from U.S. Darin LaHood, R-Dunlap, while Illinois funding came from the efforts of State Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria. The mayor says Washington also utilized some unspent funding from the COVID-era CARES Act.
Manier says original estimates on the building came in over $5 million. Evidence storage buildings require highly specialized equipment. There’s really no substitute for a building specifically designed for the purpose.
“A well-designed, well-built, city-owned facility is the only good answer for us for evidence storage,” Deputy Police Chief Jeff Stevens told WCBU last June.
“We’ll be able to store and maintain the evidentiary value of the things stored.”
Maintenance of evidence is critical, as it enables use of the evidence in the courtroom.
The Washington City Council initially balked at a $2.4 million low bid from P.J. Hoerr Construction in June 2024. The council had budgeted around $1.9 million for the project, based on a Sept. 2023 estimate from Dewberry Construction.
Ultimately, the council avoided a potentially costly re-bidding process and went with the P.J. Hoerr bid.
“It’s not really a visible building where people would be coming and going to and from, like a city hall or a police station actually,” said Manier. “So it’s kind of a tough pill to swallow when you look at the price.”
The new evidence building’s location makes it even less visible. Construction has already started, dirt is turned and heavy machinery is hard at work on a grassy patch behind the Fire Department building on West Jefferson Street, near the Five Points building.
However, Mainer acknowledges the building is critical for police department operation. He also mentions a new sally port in the building’s design that will allow officers to store an impounded car inside.
“Keeping our officers in town when they’re taking evidence to and from and our police staff doing the same thing, I think having them right within the city is very important,” said Manier.
Construction on the building is expected to finish by October.
