BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
Mayor-President Kip
Holden and Woman's Hospital officials have signed a non-binding letter of
intent to transform the old Woman's Hospital facility into a public safety
complex for Baton Rouge police and possibly the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's
office.
BRPD Chief DeWayne
White says it's a win-win situation.
"We're excited.
We're excited about the possibility of being located in the heart of Baton
Rouge," Chief White said. "We're excited about hoping to come together and have
that collective partnership with the Sheriff's office."
The city-parish would
pay $10 million for the complex and have to spend additional money to have the
space converted.
The EBR Sheriff's
office is in on the deal. The deal is in very early stages and would have to be
approved by the EBR Metro Council.
That process will go
well into the first part of next year as the public will also have a chance to
weigh in sometime after the first of next year.
BRPD Chief White says
the current headquarters is old and out dated and in serious need of costly
repairs.
He hopes that a newer
headquarters would help them with the business of running a successful police
department.
"When you have a
happy employee, you have a productive employee," White said. "As moral goes up,
productivity goes up."
Copyright 2012 WAFB.
All rights reserved.
Old location of Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge
