Pottawattamie County Sheriff shows off upgrades to facility

Council Bluffs, Iowa. (WOWT) - Pottawattamie County Sheriff Andy Brown and his staff held an open house Wednesday to show off the new additions to their headquarters.

Brown said the project, which had cost $3.2 million, has added 16,000 square feet to the facility.

It adds onto the office and jail, which was built in the late 1990s.

Brown said over time, it just didn’t provide the space that was needed.

“Our investigations unit has gotten bigger,” he said. “We have a digital forensics investigator now that needed an office. Just with the evidence we’ve collected over the years, our crime scene technician didn’t have a very good working lab.”

It also provides more space for training, offices, and a larger weight room.

Brown said this will translate to better performance for his crew on the streets.

Most of the funding came from money from forfeitures. The rest was from the Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors.

Board member Jeff Jorgensen got a tour of the new addition and said he’s happy to support the sheriff.

“He doesn’t come to us with needless requests,” Jorgensen said. “He comes to us for things he does need to be an effective law enforcement agency here in the county, so we look to get things done for him.”

Jorgensen said this is an ongoing effort and that the sheriff’s office needs more storage facilities for maintenance and evidence. He expects that to come up on the board’s agenda this summer.

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