Farmington Police Department receives new home after 20-year hunt

FARMINGTON, N.M. — Deputy Chief Kyle Dowdy with the Farmington Police Department says they have been on a 20-year hunt for a new home. 

“It’s been one of those keystone projects that many of us have been shooting for, like hopefully in our career well be able to see a new building, either be built or us move into a new one,” said Dowdy. 

They haven’t relocated since the building was constructed in the 1950s and things are getting a little tight at the old building.

“We have detectives in a different building, we have our crime lab in a different building, we have our real-time crime center here, but it’s almost outgrown. It’s space so we would need a larger area,” Dowdy said.

That request was answered by a unanimous vote by the Farmington City Council. 

“The city manager decided to reach out to Hilcorp, they were able to get a deal done together for the city council to purchase the building for a fraction of the costs,” Dowdy added.

A deal to the tune of $3 million. Dowdy says with some renovations at the new building, the Farmington Police Department will go from vintage to modern. 

“We’re going to add things like an armory, we’re going to add an evidence room that’s more secure, we’re going to add an expansion to the real-time crime center we’re even talking about doing reality-based training,” Dowdy said.

Renovations will cost between $2 to $3 million and will take up to two years to complete. 

Dowdy said it’s a fraction of what it would cost to build from the ground up.