Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Justice Center project biggest in years

The new Blue Earth County Justice Center will go down as one of the biggest in Blue Earth County history, and offers several features that give a hint of just how much of a new age courts, law enforcement have come into.

A terrific photo slideshow by John Cross gives one an idea of some of these features in an easy to digest way. Go to it at: http://is.gd/ztTi. In the planning stages for years, the project also is the focus of a 12-page special section in The Free Press print edition today.

The justice center will be high-tech and green. It will have state of the art holding cells, a whole section for women only prisoners. Monitoring of cell blocks will be by video monitor in a central location, while at the same time 1/2 hourly checks on prisoners.

There are work stations for officers filling out their reports, a gun cleaning area and lots of customer service areas for courts criminal and civil activities.

It does seem like it consolidates a lot of related government activities in one place. Though Mankato Police decided not to go into the project because of differences with site location (Mankato wanted downtown), other county-related activities involving courts, probation and sheriff's office will be located in a one-stop shop.

Sounds like a tour would be well worth the time. Tours are:
Friday 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sunday 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Tuesday 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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