Branson’s new Police Station: Ahead of schedule and on budget!

Construction of Branson’s new $15,792,002 police station at the junction of North Wildwood Drive and Gretna Road began in July 2024. It was to take approximately 540 days to complete. Police Chief Eric Schmitt said the project is on budget, and he expects to move in by December 31, 2025. “It could be earlier than that, depending on whether we run into any snags between here and then,” he added.

In terms of the current construction status, Chief Schmitt said, “What we refer to as the ‘West Wing,’ is 60 to 70% complete. We already have paint on the walls and are hanging the suspended ceilings. After that, they’ll be able to come in and start doing some of the finishing work, like the cabinets, carpeting and things along those lines. The rest of the building is about at the 50% mark. We already have our appliances on order, so most everything that we need is standing by and ready for installation when we get to that phase.”

Its unique construction involves repurposing the old White House Theater. Chief Schmitt said that doing this building rather than a new building has saved money. We could build a state-of-the-art facility that includes everything that a law enforcement agency that is continuing to grow will need for the foreseeable future.

The three-level renovation encompasses 42,365 square feet of the building’s total 66,500 square feet. Its main level will house 13,003 square feet dedicated to police functions and temporary holding cells, a 2,090 square foot Sallyport, 3,063 square feet for SWAT and evidence, 243 square feet for bike storage, and 13,799 square feet for a lobby and locker rooms. The lower level will provide 3,102 square feet for evidence storage. The upper level will accommodate 7,065 square feet for combined police and fire administration.

Chief Schmitt highlighted the West Wing as a point of pride, describing it as “the area dedicated to our workers, our patrol officers and our civilian staff that are really out in the field a lot.” This area will feature spacious workout and break rooms, a courtyard for downtime, and improved facilities like interview rooms, holding cells and a dedicated crime lab that the department has never had before. 

One innovative feature Schmitt pointed out is the specially designed lockers for handling the sweat and smell problems caused by wearing Kevlar vests. “We have airflow through those lockers to dry out the Kevlar vests.”

He also said that there will be a community meeting room. It will hold about 100 people and will be available for rent by the public. 

The remaining unrenovated space will be “white boxed” and initially used as a training area for police and fire departments. This space can repurpose it as needs develop.

“What one thing do you want the public to know about this project?” Chief Schmitt replied, “I’m so proud to be the police chief of a city whose citizens, administration, elected officials and staff support their police force like Branson does. This project would have been impossible without that support.”