Martin Police Station

The Martin Police Department is a new 1 story 16,175 SF building located just north of the Martin downtown area. The building houses many diverse functions of the department – including training areas, evidence processing, dispatch, court rooms, clerks’ offices, investigation rooms, fingerprinting and interview spaces, as well as a secure vehicle sallyport, all while maintaining building security and controlled public access. The City Clerk department is located directly off the public lobby as an entry receptionist and yet they also have direct access to the judge’s bench of the City Courtroom.

The layout maximizes after-hours access for City Council meetings and City Court public access. The City Court Room also serves as the City Council Room, making efficient use of a large public space. The public circulation areas are separated from the secure Police and Dispatch areas that operate 24/7.

The fingerprint and interview areas are immediately off the vehicle Sallyport area for easy access of officers and Investigators. The Training and Dispatch Communication areas are built of reinforced concrete construction as a tornado resistant shelter to maintain emergency communication during a tornado or disaster. The dispatch area and Training Room are also served by an emergency generator housed in a tornado resistant enclosure to provide communications power, lighting and ventilation when normal power system are lost in a storm. The tornado resistant Training room is designed as a building within a building that provides dual use of a command and control center for all agencies.

Private offices are provided for Investigators and Patrol Lieutenants to maintain security of investigation information and evidence materials. The Evidence Processing Room will expand the departments current abilities with new evidence processing and drying equipment with the space needed to maintain a secure and controlled area. The site selected for the new facility posed many design challenges. One of those challenges was the 160’ tall radio communication tower serving the dispatch area that could only be located within a narrow area in the center of the site because of zoning setback requirements. The north ¼ of the site was also not usable because of the 100-year flood zone. TLM’s team of architects and engineers worked with the City to develop a plan to maximize the site usage without compromising the scope of the facility program.