Police Department Dedicates New Property And Evidence Facility

Monday, September 22nd, 2025

The Dalton Police Department officially dedicated its new Property and Evidence facility with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Monday afternoon. Construction of a new facility to store evidence from the department's investigations was one fo the projects funded by the 2020 SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax). The new building replaces a smaller facility in the Police Services Center which the department had outgrown. Fittingly, the police department used a piece of crime scene tape instead of a red ribbon for the ceremony. 

"When we had the groundbreaking ceremony for this building, we talked about some of the challenges we had with the existing building," said City Administrator Andrew Parker, who noted that the police department has to comply with a number of laws that require evidence to be stored for years after investigations. In some cases, the department has to maintain that evidence indefinitely. "(We were running into problems) with storing evidence both from availability of storage but we also had some of the challenges with some of the things being stored making sure that our employees are very safe and we are preserving this evidence correctly." 

Caption: Mayor Annalee Sams (center) cuts a piece of crime scene tape to officially dedicate the new Property and Evidence building at the Police Services Center. Mayor Sams was joined by the Dalton Police Department's command staff and Councilmembers Steve Farrow and Dennis Mock as well as City staff and project managers from contractor RW Smith Company and KRH Architects

The new Property and Evidence building is located adjacent to the Police Services Center on Jones Street. In addition to boasting more than 3,000 evidence bays (more than 2,000 additional bays than the department had before) it also has separate facilities with state of the art ventilation and exhaust systems for the storage of drugs and other noxious items to limit the risk of exposure for police department staff. The new building also has new laboratory facilities for investigators to process and analyze evidence. That includes a new garage area where investigators can examine and process vehicles that are involved in cases. 

"I can’t say enough to thank the elected officials for supporting us for this being one of the projects selected to move forward with the SPLOST. I also want to thank the voters for supporting the SPLOST," said Chief Cliff Cason. "For us to have a space created that can meet the needs we have now and also for at least a decade into the future is a wonderful thing."

Parker praised project architect KRH Architects and contractor RW Smith Company for delivering the project on time and creating an outstanding facility for the police department. He also had high praise for Captain Barry Woods who managed the project for the police department. 

"Captain Woods did such a great job managing the day-to-day on this project that we threatened to push him over to Public Works and help us manage some other projects, too," Parker joked. 

"The building is really impressive inside, what you've created is just outstanding," said Mayor Annalee Sams. "This project is proof that SPLOST can absolutely make good things happen for our community and unburden the property taxpayer." 

Monday's ceremony did not include a tour of the new facility because it is already in use by the police department and rules regarding the chain of custody for evidence do not allow the public access to most of the building. The police department did offer a tour for City leaders in May when the building was nearing completion. You can click here see pictures from the tour on the Dalton Police Department's Facebook page.