After five years of planning and construction, the Lenexa Justice Center opens Monday to the public, with the city’s hopes that it will take Lenexa law enforcement into the future.
At 8:30 a.m. Monday, the Lenexa Police Department will lock the doors at its old headquarters at West 87th Street Parkway and Monrovia Street and formally cut the ribbon at its new building at 17371 Prairie Star Pkwy.
In the works since 2019, the $73 million project includes two new buildings with several features aimed at streamlining both police and Lenexa Municipal Court operations.
“What it really comes down to is operational efficiency,” Lenexa Police Chief Dawn Layman said.
The new center includes two buildings, room to expand
In 2019, the City of Lenexa commissioned a consultant team to look at whether its old facility met the needs of the department.
The consultant team’s research found that it was “aging and in significant need of repairs”. and its layout “made collaboration between divisions difficult and significantly hampered the ability of police to carry out daily functions efficiently and effectively.”
As a result, the city designed a new justice center with two buildings on land at Prairie Star Parkway and Britton Street: a two-story, 93,275-square-foot facility for all police and municipal court operations and a single-story, 22,820-square-foot building for police training.
The goal of the new justice center campus is to not only meet the needs of today, but the potential for growth in the next 40 to 50 years, Layman said.
“We actually kind of have looked at things that if we needed to, at some point, in 35 years to expand, we have the ability to do that on this piece of property that we’re currently on,” she said.
The station has more rooms
At the old facility, a lack of space was always a problem, Master Police Officer Danny Chavez, a Lenexa Police spokesperson, said.
“Before, we were always kind of fighting for conference rooms,” he said. “There were times where I’d say ‘There’s no conference rooms available.’ And I have to have my meetings at City Hall.”
The new building contains an abundance of conference and meeting rooms, eliminating that conflict.
In addition, Lenexa Police also wanted a Community Room to have events for the public.
“If we have Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts that want to come in here, HOA groups, community groups, or if we are hosting classes for the public, which we do on a variety of topics, rather than having to currently buzz people into the secure part of the station where they have to be escorted constantly, we could just have (this room) open and handle those meetings here,” Chavez said.
The facility also has privacy in mind
In addition to its standard victim and suspect interview rooms, the new justice center also has a family interview room with softer furniture and warmer lighting for police to speak with children who may have been a victim of a crime.
For police and staff, the building also features quiet rooms that allow them to process traumatic events.
“Law enforcement and first responders are often exposed to things that nobody should have to be exposed to,” Chavez said. “Before, if you needed a step away, you could go, ‘I guess, to the bathroom stall or to your car,’ right? If you need a few quiet minutes, maybe to call in peer support to discuss a big call you just took, we’ve got some spaces built in for that purpose.”
New facility’s parking offers more space and security
A new indoor parking garage allows for police vehicles containing suspects to park in a safe, enclosed area while they wait to be booked.
“At the old garage, it wasn’t unusual to have three and four officers with arrestees, and they were literally parking outside the secure area … You’d get (the suspect) out of the car and bring them in and even cuffed, they’d take off,” Chavez said.
Additional parking throughout the facility also allows for bigger police vehicles, like its mobile command post, to be stored there instead of off-site.
“For our mobile command posts, we did not have room for this at our old station, so we kept it parked at our substation, which is the far western edge of the city,” he said. “So now, we’ve been able to bring all of our vehicles and equipment together.”
The outdoor parking area also features covered stalls to help shield police vehicles from sunlight and snow.
“Covered parking was a big one for us,” Chavez said. “In the wintertime, you don’t want to shovel a foot of snow off of your car or let it run forever so it can defrost when it’s 100 degrees out and the sun’s beating down on you.”
Lenexa Police want a communal feel
One of the big focuses of the new facility was encouraging officers and staff to spend time together.
In order to do that, it added a break room with a kitchen, indoor and outdoor eating areas and a kids’ play area, where staff and officers can eat and relax together, including their families.
“Family is a big part of our department, so is sharing meals together,” Chavez said. “Because the nature of shift work, you spend a lot of time away from your family, so on your dinner break, you can invite your family to come eat with you … (We) just really want to encourage that family feel, not only with your co-workers, but with your own family.”
Throughout the project’s design and construction process, Lenexa Police were happy that both the public and city government showed their support.
“Our community and our city council have been very supportive and have realized that this is something that we needed to do and embark on,” Layman said.
During the past weekend, Lenexa police gave veteran officers a chance to check out the new building. Layman said the city and current force hope to do right by their legacy.
“Because of them, we don’t have to fight for the new building or fight for equipment and pay increases and all these things,” she said. “We want to give credit to those that came before us because they laid that groundwork that we have the responsibility to continue.”
Go deeper: Years in the making, city council paves way for work on new Lenexa Justice Center to begin
