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Spacesaver helps a local police department maximize its new space and impact within the community.

Learn how Spacesaver used their comprehensive law enforcement product lineup to help bring a department and community together.

Delivering Order for the Law 

<h2>Old Station On The Block</h2>
<p>Operating out of a 1990’s building whose useful life as a police station (and many other functions) was well passed, the city of Mishawaka, Indiana was at a crossroads when considering the future residence of its police force. On one hand, they could invest several million dollars into revamping its current facility; while on the other, they could seek out a more fitting home for their officers and operations.</p>
<p>Whichever option they pursued, there were several departments requiring an update. Their records system consisted of a mix of inefficient, static filing cabinets containing decades of records; their evidence bay was characterized by plastic tubs on stationary shelving; and their locker rooms were a poor reflection of the level of safety and security these brave individuals swore to provide for the community.</p>


<h2>Liberty Brings Justice For All</h2>
<p>After considering their options, the city turned their attention to a 92,000 SF building in the center of the city. Formerly occupied by Liberty Mutual, this newly vacant space was the perfect location – on a main thoroughfare – but was far too much space to justify housing only the Police Department. However, after marketing the space to national tenants who could potentially utilize it to the fullest, city administrators devised a plan to keep its inhabitants local.</p>


<p>Seeing an opportunity to update multiple out-of-date buildings at one time and boost the vitality of the city, they chose to purchase the building to combine city services including City Hall, Utilities Business Office, and Police Department – all under the same roof. Now, with its new home selected and secured, city and police administrators began the search for a partner to help outfit the facility.</p>

<h2 style="text-align:center;">Solving The Case of Underutilized Space</h2>
<p style="text-align:center;">After doing their due diligence – which included viewing and reading about completed projects in the region – to fully understand the parameters of the new space and the future needs of the department, police officials brought in their <a href="/partners">local Spacesaver expert</a> for support. Their goal was to outfit the space in a manner that would create a welcoming environment for officers, staff, and the community to interact. Department by department, solution by solution, our expert worked with officers and staff to deliver the highest and best use for their new space.</p>

<h4>Look At These Lockers</h4>
<p>The most resounding example of this transformation can be found in the facility’s locker rooms. Once a collection of beaten and discolored, one-size-fits-all receptacles, the department’s new <a href="/products/lockers/personal-storage-locker" aria-label="personal storage locker product details">Spacesaver FreeStyle® Personal Storage Lockers</a> are a work of art. Designed to accommodate the specific requirements of each officer’s personal and professional storage demands, these lockers facilitate a secure space for individuals to make a smooth transition between civilian and civil servant.</p>

<h4>The Proof Is In The Putting</h4>
<p>A place for everything, everything in its place. The origin of this quote may not be clear, but its significance as it applies to evidence storage is as clear as crystal. Even the smallest discrepancy in the processing or handling of a piece of evidence can prove catastrophic for the success of a prosecutor when trying a case. Our storage expert fully understood this fact and the needs of the department, and delivered a wide array of solutions including High-Density Mobile Shelving Systems, Pass-Thru and Non-Pass-Thru Lockers, and Refrigerated Evidence Lockers, to name a few.</p>

<h2>Installing Confidence In Your Community</h2>
<p>With more than 50 years in business, <a href="/public-safety" aria-label="public safety storage solutions">Spacesaver’s law enforcement experts</a> understand the vital importance of secure and effective public safety storage. Our in-house engineers and project managers team up with our network of local distributorships to serve hundreds of agencies, large and small. Let our team help plan your next project, install Spacesaver products, and provide ongoing service for any facility.</p>

spacesaver case study - delivering order to law enforcement facility

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Delivering Order for the Law

See how this sheriff’s department stores long-term evidence in a specially designed off-site evidence storage warehouse in Florida.

Spacesaver helps this sheriff’s office keep evidence organized and compactly stored.

Designing an Off-Site Evidence Storage Warehouse for Law Enforcement

<h2>Overcrowded Evidence Storage</h2>
<p>Law enforcement agencies need to store evidence for serious crimes for decades, usually until the convicted person has fulfilled his or her sentence. As a result, evidence accumulates from year to year, and this can lead to overcrowding in long-term evidence storage areas.</p>
<p>That was certainly the case at a sheriff’s office in Florida that typically takes in about 20,000 evidentiary items every year. The agency had been using static shelving in a 1930s-era prison for storing evidence for decades, but the facility was running out of space. In addition, the prison wasn’t designed to hold evidence: the doorways were too narrow to accommodate bulky items and the aging structure was susceptible to occasional flooding.</p>
<p>The project planning team wanted to optimize space, plan for future growth, and streamline workflows.</p>
<p>Despite the building’s shortfalls, the sheriff and his team had achieved CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies) certification, which reflected their commitment to best practices in evidence storage. In order to keep their accreditation, and to keep serving the community efficiently, they needed to build a better space.</p>

<p>Download our Xtend mobile system brochure.</p>

Learn About High-bay Shelving

Secure Off-Site Evidence Storage

<h2>Off-Site Warehouse with XTend® Mobile High-Bay Shelving</h2>
<p>Because Spacesaver is the industry leader in high-bay shelving, the project planning team called on the local Spacesaver consultant for assistance. They worked together for the next four years to <a href="/products/high-density-mobile-systems/high-bay-mobile-system">design a high-bay shelving system</a>, along with a variety of other solutions, to help keep evidence organized and secure. When the time came to build out the facility, the nearby factory-trained Spacesaver crew installed the shelving and evidence lockers. </p>
<p>The Spacesaver shelving provides about 40% more storage capacity.</p>

<p>The new building is a model of best practices in evidence storage. Long-term evidence is stored on a pair of custom 40-foot-long by 20-foot-high <a href="/products/high-density-mobile-systems/high-bay-mobile-system">XTend® High-Bay Mobile Storage Systems</a>. These systems take advantage of the facility’s vertical height, while also eliminating wasted aisle space, to gain about 40% more storage space than they had at their old site. The shelving is four feet deep to perfectly accommodate two two-foot banker’s boxes, and the boxes can be accessed from either side to improve efficiency and convenience. Aisles are opened at the point of need by press-button, app, or remote control, and every aisle has Automated Guided Vehicle technology, which helps the mechanical order pickers operate with more precision and safety. </p>
<p>The new building is a model of best practices in evidence storage.</p>

Temporary Evidence Storage

<h2>A Secure System</h2>
<p>The result is an end-to-end evidence storage and retrieval system that helps ensure that evidence is secure and justice is served. The fully optimized storage facility also has plenty of room to grow in the future, and the Sheriff’s Office has maintained its CALEA accreditation. </p>

county sheriff off-site evidence warehouse design

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Designing an Off-site Evidence Storage Warehouse for Law Enforcement

See how a new facility saves space with police records storage and evidence storage on high-density mobile shelving.

A community builds a new police department with convenient police records storage and evidence storage.

Balancing Transparency & Security in a New Police Facility

Principal at McClaren, Wilson & Lawrie

<h2>A New Facility for a Modern Approach</h2>
<p>The thirty-year-old police building in Oswego, Illinois, was originally designed to accommodate 50 employees. As the community grew and changed, so did the department’s staff and policing style.</p>
<p>When the time came to design a new facility, the planning team agreed that the building should reflect those changes. They wanted the new police building to serve as a resource for the community and the region, to foster a sense of camaraderie among the staff and the public, and to provide room to grow, particularly in the police records storage and evidence storage areas.</p>



<p>Most of all, the officers and the community wanted the building to be more transparent and open.</p>
<p>“As a village, we wanted a facility that would be inviting and welcoming,” said Chief Jeff Burgner. “We wanted the public and the staff to want to come here.”</p>
<p>This design approach is a departure from the “fortress” concept that was popular in the past, and it arises from a new approach to community policing, said Dean Roberts, one of the architects on the project. “Our more recent projects look very different from a generation ago,” he said. “We’re trying to build a bridge between police staff and the residents of a community. Our job is to help them design a building that gets them where they want to go.”</p>

LEED Silver anticipated

Police Chief 

<h2>A Beacon to the Community</h2>
<p>Wanting to build a facility that would endure for decades, the village chose a building site near the fire department’s headquarters to create a public safety campus that will be at the center of the community as it grows. The building truly is a beacon to the community, featuring an iconic tower, glass walls, a regional training center, and a community room. Compact storage for records and evidence provide room to grow and free up valuable space for other uses.</p>

<h2>Encouraging Teamwork</h2>
<p>The staff entrance opens onto a “Staff Hub” that features casual seating, a commons area, and video monitors that display computer-aided dispatch information and updates on local conditions. The main areas for patrol function are all conveniently located off the Hub.</p>
<p>The Hub posed a unique design challenge but also an opportunity to subtly influence the department’s culture, Roberts said. “Officers are trained to be independent, to operate autonomously. But in the building, we’re trying to bring everyone together and form one team. The design of a building can encourage a culture that fosters teamwork.”</p>

Architect 

<h2>Secure Police Records Storage and Evidence Storage</h2>
<p>Although the public areas of the facility are open and welcoming, the building also needed secure areas for police records storage and evidence storage. The design team wanted to store items compactly in these areas to free up space elsewhere in the facility for workstations, training, and other uses.</p>
<p>That’s why they chose Spacesaver high-density shelving systems, which move on rails to eliminate wasted aisles and optimize storage space.</p>

<h3>Evidence Storage</h3>
<p>The old building had overflowed the physical limits of its storage space. “We had outgrown evidence storage in the old building,” Burgner said. “We needed to build in room to grow.”</p>
<p><a href="/products/high-density-mobile-systems" aria-label="high density mobile sytem product details">High-density Spacesaver systems</a> optimize space in the new evidence room. Evidence is stored in large or small totes, and smaller evidence is stored in envelopes inside drawers that are sized to optimize space. Evidentiary weapons are stored in boxes in an aisle that locks down to provide an additional layer of security.</p>

<h3>Police Records Storage</h3>
<p>Long-term police records storage had also been a problem in the old building. The new facility features a records room conveniently located adjacent to the administrative area. The room is fitted with a Spacesaver system for efficient space use. Because juvenile records require an additional layer of security, those records are secured on Spacesaver shelving fitted with locking tambour doors.</p>


<h2>Welcoming the Community</h2>
<p>A multi-purpose community room that can accommodate 40 to 80 people is located near the main lobby. With floor-to-ceiling glass panes that surround three sides, the room serves as a venue for department educational seminars, regional training sessions and community gatherings.</p>

<h3>An Award-Winning Facility</h3>
<p>The new building is a hit with officers and the community. It has also won design awards, including the Project of the Year award from the American Public Works Association and the American Institute of Architects’ Justice Facilities Review Award.</p>
<p>Even better than the official accolades, Roberts said, was attending the opening ceremony and seeing how pleased the staff and the community were with the new facility. “They had been doing the best they could with a building they had outgrown ten years before,” Roberts said. “It was gratifying to see them have the space they want, in a facility that brings them together. It’s honestly the most rewarding part of my career: helping people who serve their communities.”</p>


oswego public safety evidence storage solutions install story

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Police Records Storage and Evidence Storage

This new facility was designed to foster positive community relations and provide police evidence storage to maintain the department's accreditation.

A New Police Building with a Focus on Community

<h2>Welcoming the Community</h2>
<p>Like many police departments throughout the United States, the Arlington Heights Police Department wanted to strengthen its relationship with the community. The department had been pursuing a number of community-oriented programming initiatives for years, and now they had the opportunity to build a physical structure that reflected this goal. They wanted a large community room to host meetings and gatherings, and they wanted public spaces to be filled with natural light to help create a pleasant, inviting atmosphere.</p>
<p><b>The building features bright and welcoming public spaces, which help balance the need for security with a feeling of openness and transparency.</b></p>

Deputy Police Chief 

<h2>Improving Comfort & Workflow</h2>
<p>Another design goal was to promote efficient workflows in the building’s secure areas and minimize wasted time and inconvenience for officers and staff.</p>
<p>“It’s all about efficiency,” said Deputy Police Chief Nicholas Pecora. “In our previous building, we had to go down to the basement, get all our gear out of the old high-school style lockers, then come upstairs to roll call, put all our stuff down while we got our assignments, then gather it all up again and head out to the garage. You needed a sherpa to get through the building.”</p>

<p>The new building takes a completely new approach. The locker rooms are upstairs, so officers can get dressed and go down to the main floor for roll call. <a href="/products/lockers/gear-locker">Duty bag lockers</a> are conveniently located between the briefing room and garage. “Now you grab all your heavy gear on the way to your car,” Pecora said. “It’s so much better.”</p>

Rifles and duty bags are stored in police lockers adjacent to the garage, so officers can pick up their gear on the way to their patrol cars. “We wanted to minimize carrying heavy gear through the building,” said the deputy chief.

<h2>Turning a Tragedy Into an Asset</h2>
<p>Like many cities across the Midwest, Arlington Heights had to cut down thousands of ash trees due to infestation by an insect called the emerald ash borer. Fortunately, the public works department had the foresight to keep the trunks of larger trees. When the time came to plan and construct the new police building, those trees were milled and used for paneling and tables. Similar ash wood was incorporated into the design of the Spacesaver FreeStyle police lockers.</p>


<h6>Lockers pictured are <a href="/products/lockers/personal-storage-locker">Spacesaver Freestyle® Personal Storage Lockers</a> <small>featuring:</small></h6>
<ul>
<li>Drawer with boot liner &amp; body armor drying rack</li>
<li>Integrated wood bench</li>
<li>Louvered door &amp; drawer</li>
<li>Combination lock with master key override</li>
<li>Padlock hasp</li>
<li>Sloped top to maintain an orderly appearance</li>
<li>Electrical outlet</li>
<li>Double-walled, welded steel doors</li>
<li>Powder-coat paint color: Whisper on upper with Black drawer front</li>
</ul>

<h2>Police Records & Evidence Storage</h2>
<p>Securely tracking and storing evidence and records are vital functions of any police department. The AHPD gained accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) in 2008 and followed strict procedures to maintain it during and after the move to the new building.</p>
<p>To help ensure that evidence and records are documented, transferred, and stored in compliance with CALEA-approved procedures, the department uses Spacesaver police evidence storage lockers and high density storage systems. High-density systems consist of shelving that moves along rails installed in the floor to optimize space and provide room to grow. These systems save space in the records room and the long-term evidence storage area.</p>


<p>Biological evidence needs to be kept cold, and this half-height pass-through <a href="/products/lockers/evidence-locker">refrigerated evidence locker</a> preserves evidence as it’s transferred from the collecting officer to the AHPD’s in-house evidence lab. <a href="/products/lockers/evidence-locker">Pass-through lockers</a> allow officers to deposit evidence from one side of a wall, and then evidence technicians can access the evidence from the highly secure evidence processing area.</p>

The department wanted to get the best value while bypassing the cumbersome bidding process. That’s why they used the National IPA contract (now under OMNIA Partners) to acquire the Spacesaver personal storage lockers, evidence lockers, shelving, and duty bag lockers throughout the new facility.

public safety storage makeover install story

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The Lake County Sheriff’s Department improved its evidence storage to gain accreditation and ensure a secure chain of custody.

Improving Evidence Room Layout to Gain Accreditation

<h2>The Challenge</h2>
<p>The Lake County Sheriff’s Department in Libertyville, Illinois, acquired a 12,000-square-foot area in a new building for evidence intake and storage. The new facility provided the opportunity to completely rethink evidence room layout, both in terms of the physical space as well as from a process / protocol perspective, and this effort dovetailed with the sheriff’s ambitious goal of becoming the first sheriff’s department to achieve Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ILEAP) accreditation</p>

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<h2>The Solution</h2>
<p>While the new facility was still in the early planning phase, the evidence manager called on the local Spacesaver consultant to help analyze the department’s storage needs and explain their options. They met repeatedly over several years to develop and implement a detailed evidence storage plan, and the end result is a comprehensive system that secures the chain of custody throughout the facility.</p>
<p>Want an in-person evaluation of your evidence room layout? <a href="/contact-us"aria-label="contact spacesaver">Contact us</a> for a free on-site consultation.</p>

<h3>Secure Evidence Intake</h3>
<p>Because the evidence department takes in nearly 6,000 pieces of evidence a year, streamlining the intake process was of vital importance. The evidence intake room is accessed via a secure exterior door, and deputies place packaged evidence in one of the Spacesaver pass-through <a href="/products/lockers/evidence-locker" aria-label="evidence locker product details">evidence lockers</a> located along the back wall. These lockers have doors on the backs, on the other side of the wall, so that evidence techs working in the evidence storage area can easily retrieve and process the items.</p>

<h3>Space-Saving&nbsp; Box Storage</h3>
<p>A few inches of wasted space, multiplied by thousands of linear feet of shelving, can really add up. To ensure that every cubic inch was used, the Spacesaver consultant used standard evidence box measurements as the design basis for the entire shelving system. In addition, a <a href="/products/high-density-mobile-systems" aria-label="high density mobile system product details">high-density storage system</a> doubled capacity by eliminating wasted space in the aisles.</p>

<h3>Additional Security for Weapons</h3>
<p>Most accreditation programs require that weapons be kept in an area with an additional layer of security. Adding Spacesaver’s PIN option to the weapons storage aisles saved the department the expense and space of having to build a separate weapons room. In addition, the old shelving system required them to stack boxed guns on top of each other, so the Spacesaver consultant’s careful attention to sizing and spacing of the new shelving resulted in space savings, better organization, and a safer working environment.</p>



<h3>Managing Heavy and Oversized Items</h3>
<p>As any evidence manager knows, evidence doesn’t always fit in uniformly-sized boxes. Heavy or bulky items need their own heavy-duty shelving solution, but traditional pallet racking takes up a lot of room. That’s why the department opted for Spacesaver’s <a href="/products/high-density-mobile-systems/heavy-duty-mobile-racking" aria-label="heavy duty mobile system product details">ActivRAC® Mobilized Storage System</a> for oversized items. The system can accommodate heavy items on new or used pallet racking, and electronic controls facilitate carriage movement.</p>

<h3>Keeping Supplies Close at Hand</h3>
<p>The evidence manager knew that maintaining an adequate supply of boxes, tape, and other packaging supplies would be crucial to maintaining the chain of custody. In order to ensure that the department would never run out of supplies, he asked the Spacesaver consultant to design a shelving system for spare items.</p>

A Successful Accreditation Bid

<p>Soon after staff moved into the new facility, the department became the first, and so far the only, sheriff’s office to receive accreditation from the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ILEAP). Evidence room management was part of the thorough accreditation process, and the evidence department’s careful documentation of chain-of-custody procedures, as well as Spacesaver’s secure evidence storage solutions, contributed to the department’s success.</p>

lake county sheriff evidence storage project

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Rapid growing town plans for an agile property and evidence storage facility with automated badge-swap security.

Secure Evidence Warehouse Design

<p>Calgary, Alberta is home to over 1.2 million residents and is the fastest growing city in Canada. Rapid growth often stresses public services, and this was the case with the Calgary Police Service, which was struggling with evidence storage issues. The department was renting an evidence storage warehouse that held property and evidence for all districts. Although the evidence storage warehouse was accredited, it was relatively distant from police headquarters, and the rent added up to a significant long-term cost.</p>
<p>In 2013, CPS leadership decided it was time to start looking for a solution that was suited to their specific needs and that could accommodate future growth. A team consisting of personnel from property and evidence, finance, and infrastructure services began researching new options for evidence storage. They decided that a vacant property adjacent to headquarters provided the ideal opportunity to create a centralized, purpose-built facility for property and evidence storage.</p>

<p>The lot had significant space restrictions, and there were concerns about whether the space would have the capacity they needed. That’s when the infrastructure services team introduced the group to the concept of Spacesaver’s <a href="/products/high-density-mobile-systems/heavy-duty-mobile-racking" aria-label="heavy duty mobile sytem product details">ActivRAC® Mobilized Storage System</a> and <a href="/products/high-density-mobile-systems/high-bay-mobile-system" aria-label="high bay mobile system product details">XTend® Mobile High-Bay Storage System</a>. These solutions would allow them to use the vertical space in the warehouse and compact aisles to maximize capacity. They knew this was the best option for their location and needs.</p>
<p >The new warehouse was up and running in January 2017. It has a variety of space-saving features that improve organization and ensure a secure chain of custody.</p>

<p>ActivRAC eliminates wasted aisle space by <a href="/products/high-density-mobile-systems/heavy-duty-mobile-racking">mounting pallet racking on a carriage-and-rail system</a>. The rows of racking sit side-by-side until evidence warehouse staff open an aisle to store or retrieve evidence. The aisles open wide enough to allow forklifts to operate.</p>

<p>
<a href="/products/high-density-mobile-systems/heavy-duty-mobile-racking" aria-label="heavy duty mobile racking product details">Spacesaver’s ActivRAC system</a> is ideal for evidence that is large and / or heavy. The most robust version ActivRAC can bear loads of up to 30,000 per carriage section.</p>

<p>ActivRAC Mobilized Storage System Brochure</p>

Free Download

<h3>Product Information</h3>
<p><a href="/products/high-density-mobile-systems/heavy-duty-mobile-racking" aria-label="heavy duty mobile system product details">Heavy-duty Mobile Storage Racking</a> is ideal for any location that requires a compact storage solution for heavy items. Its space-saving features make it ideal for long-term evidence storage.&nbsp;Learn more about this product by downloading a brochure or checking out the product page.</p>


<p>ActivRAC Industrial Storage Product Comparison</p>

Secure Access - Badge-swipe access provides an additional layer of security to specified aisles, such as this one, which stores evidentiary weapons.

<p>Evidence that can be stored in standard-sized boxes is stored on the <a href="/products/high-density-mobile-systems/high-bay-mobile-system" aria-label="high bay mobile system product details">XTend® Mobile High-Bay Storage System</a>. These systems move along rails and extend toward the ceiling to make the most efficient use of horizontal and vertical space.</p>

<p>Evidence warehouse staff use lifts to gain access to the upper reaches of the XTend system. These compact storage solutions for property and evidence allowed the department to maintain their accreditation while maximizing the available space in the new evidence storage warehouse. This in turn allowed the department to locate the warehouse on a small lot adjacent to headquarters.</p>

<h3>Product Information</h3>
<p><a href="/products/high-density-mobile-systems/high-bay-mobile-system" aria-label="high bay mobile system product details">High-Bay Storage</a><br>
Spacesaver high-bay shelving maximizes storage space while also providing accessibility and security. Its configurable shelves make it ideal for storing boxed evidence of various sizes. Learn more about this product by downloading a brochure, scheduling a virtual presentation, or checking out the product page.</p>



<p>Xtend Mobile High-bay Storage System Brochure</p>

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Learn how a small-town police chief designed the ideal law enforcement facility with high-quality evidence lockers, gear lockers, and records storage. 

Law Enforcement Facility Design

Carbondale Police Chief

<p>The police department in the college town of Carbonbdale, Illinois, the home of Southern Illinois University, had been housed in a former dormitory for decades. With small high-school style lockers, cobbled-together cubbies, and overflowing records storage, the facility was cramped and outdated. When the department finally got funding to construct a new building, Police Chief Jeff Grubbs knew he had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to design the ideal law enforcement facility for his city and his department.</p>
<p>It was a daunting task and Grubbs, who was deputy chief at the time, started by doing a lot of research. By touring other public safety facilities before starting to plan the building, Chief Grubbs was able to learn from others’ experiences and gather ideas that would be a good fit for his department. After seeing Spacesaver products in many well-designed law enforcement facilities, he got the St. Louis-based Spacesaver consultant involved early in the design process to ensure that locker rooms, evidence rooms, and other areas were designed to promote efficiency and organization. The Spacesaver consultant worked closely with the architecture and construction firms to conceptualize and implement a seamless design.</p>

Records Storage - To reduce initial construction costs but still provide room to <a href="/public-safety" aria-label="public safety storage solutions">expand records storage</a> in the future, rails were set in the floor during construction and only a few high-density shelving carriages were initially installed. More shelving and carriages will be added when needed in the future.

<h3>Personal Lockers</h3>
<p>The old facility had cramped gym-style lockers that were a constant frustration for officers, so <a href="/products/lockers/personal-storage-locker" aria-label="personal storage locker product details">high-quality personal lockers</a> were the Chief’s first priority in the new facility. The locker room features ADA-compliant lockers without benches as well as lockers with benches and drawers. Sloped tops prevent officers from piling items on top of the lockers, and they also conceal the wiring for charging ports located above the lockers’ upper shelf.</p>

Our personal storage locker adapts to your needs and your space, from the start. Get the guide to learn about custome configurations and full range of dimensions.

Product Details

Quartermaster Storage - Spare jackets and other apparel are stored on Spacesaver 4-Post shelving fitted with garment hanging rods. <a href="/products/shelving/4-post-case-type-shelving" aria-label="4-post shelving product details">Spacesaver’s 4-Post shelving</a> can be fitted with doors, drawers, and other accessories to increase functionality.

<h3>Crowd Control Equipment</h3>
<p>A room adjacent to the sally port is fitted with right-sized Spacesaver shelving for gear bags and shields. Every staff member has a labeled personal protective gear bag with equipment and chest protectors, arm and elbow protectors, leg protectors, and a protective helmet.</p>



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Keeping evidence organized and secure at an offsite evidence warehouse.

Evidence Preservation

Keeping Evidence Organized & Secure at an Off-Site Evidence Warehouse

Evidence Superintendent, Tucson Police Department

<h3>Evidence Preservation</h3>
<p>The Tucson Police Department’s Evidence Property Identification Center is a state-of-the-art facility designed to securely store evidence and property. With temporary storage as well as long-term storage for large evidence, biological evidence, drugs, weapons, and valuables, the facility preserves the chain of custody and provides peace of mind to the police department and the community.</p>



<p>Successful evidence management encompasses three requirements, according to Nancy McKay-Hills, the department’s evidence superintendent. It requires the right storage space, the right staffing, and the right tracking system. When she inherited a department that did not have the right balance of any of these components, she started chipping away at each of the issues, tackling the tracking problem first.</p>
<p>When the police department acquired funding for a new evidence storage facility, McKay-Hills jumped at the chance to purchase a warehouse on the city’s outskirts. Spacesaver and a packaging manufacturer were the first vendors that McKay-Hills called in, and the Spacesaver consultant helped design systems that would save space and preserve the chain of custody.</p>



<p>Spacesaver products are used throughout the building to save space and keep evidence organized and secure:</p>
<ul>
<li>Large, custom-made lockers for police department staff to deposit evidence</li>
<li>Temporary evidence lockers, including a refrigerated compartment</li>
<li>Extra-tall Spacesaver compact storage systems</li>
<li>High-density Spacesaver shelving in walk-in refrigerators</li>
<li>Compact Spacesaver shelving systems in highly secure weapons, drugs, and valuables rooms.</li>
</ul>


<p>The building is a model for best practices in evidence storage, and McKay-Hills said that Spacesaver’s early involvement played a big part of the facility’s design. “That’s what made it such a success: Getting Spacesaver in at the beginning, when the architects were still planning,” she said. “If you wait until you start building to get everyone talking, it’s too late.”</p>

<p>Download our Evidence Storage Brochure  to learn how you can safely and securely maintain the chain of custody for your evidence.</p>

Don’t let a disorganized evidence room be the reason a criminal goes free. 

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Off-Site Evidence Warehouse Keeps Evidence Organized & Secure

Uniform and gear lockers are considered “home base”, for the officers of Skokie Police Department. Take a look at how locker improvements boosted morale.

Grow community converts an old building into new police headquarters with flexible storage solutions.

Uniform and Gear Lockers

Skokie Police Department

<h2>Skokie Police Department Boosts Morale</h2>
<p>Skokie Police Department, located just west of Chicago in Skokie, Illinois, has always earned high marks for service—but doing so became increasingly difficult in the department’s former police station. A 27,000 square-foot facility built in 1957, the building and its storage systems were not sufficient when it came to supporting the current police force.</p>


<p>Given the situation and faced with the impending growth of the suburban village, the Village of Skokie moved forward converting a 79,300 square-foot abandoned bottling facility into a new police headquarters. In planning the new building, decision-makers went to great lengths to make sure the facility worked for the officers and personnel that used the space on a daily basis—overhauling the department’s <a href="/products/lockers/gear-locker" aria-label=""gear locker product details>gear bag</a>, short-term and long-term evidence, records, and locker room storage.</p>



<h3>Making People the Priority</h3>
<p>Because a top priority from the start was the department’s most valuable asset—its people—particular attention was paid to the facility’s uniform and gear lockers, which every person at the department described as “home base.” “Employees truly appreciate it when you do what you can to make their jobs easier, and storage systems definitely play a role in helping us do that,” says Barry Silverberg, Chief of Police for Skokie Police Department.</p>
<p>Having secure uniform and gear lockers would certainly help with that goal, so the department’s locker committee developed a list of criteria and brought them to Bradford Systems, the authorized Spacesaver distributor in the Chicago area. After reviewing the needs and wants of the department, Spacesaver designed 142 <a href="/products/lockers/personal-storage-locker" aria-label="personal storage locker product details">FreeStyle® Personal Storage lockers</a>, specifically engineered with a host of options and interchangeable features.</p>



<p>We’ve helped countless police departments just like Skokie PD with creating configurable uniform and gear locker storage that helps officers do an even better job of protecting their communities.</p>

Get More Information

<h3>Skokie Locker Features</h3>
<ul>
<li>A heavy-duty bench made out of hardwood that doubles as a drawer. The 36” deep sliding drawer includes ample room for storage, and a place to sit for the officers that was dearly missed at the old facility</li>
<li>Double doors that open from the middle</li>
<li>Adjustable, full-width shelves with a integral garment hanger</li>
<li>Electrical integration for powering and charging electronic devices such as flashlights, chargers, and laptops</li>
<li>Notches on the inside of each locker to hang duty belts</li>
<li>Three-hook assemblies on each side of the locker interior to hang additional garments, which can be positioned in the locker as needed without tools</li>
</ul>


<p>According to Silverberg, the lockers are just one piece of an integrated storage solution at Skokie PD that has contributed to a much more positive working environment at the department. “What it often boils down to in law enforcement is time savings and productivity. Both ultimately lead to higher morale and in turn, a higher level of service to the community.”</p>
<p>Need to upgrade your uniform or gear lockers? Spacesaver knows that every project is unique, contact us today to find your customized storage solutions.</p>

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Skokie Police Department Boosts Morale with Uniform and Gear Lockers

A new building gave the Durham County Sheriff the catalyst they needed to get smart about property and evidence storage.

Once called a “nightmare”, one North Carolina property room redeemed itself with the help of compact mobile shelving.

Property and Evidence Storage Now Secure at Durham County Sheriff

<p>In the world of property and evidence storage, there’s always something that you’re not prepared for—even though time and experience tells you that on any given day, you’ll be bombarded with any number of evidence pieces in a variety of shapes or sizes. In Durham, North Carolina, that “something” happens to be computers—loads of desktop computers, to be exact—the product of a state law banning sweepstakes cafes, places where people play computer games that mimic Vegas-style slots. “We got rid of a bunch of them—but there are still a bunch left,” says John Bradford, Property Officer of the Durham County Sheriff’s Department. </p>


<p>Bradford needs a court order from a judge in order to purge the computers, which hasn’t come in the two and half years since the cafés were shut down throughout the state. Durham County’s new Justice Center opened in February 2013, shortly after the sweepstakes café ruling. In addition to the Sheriff’s Office, the building houses the District Attorney’s Office and 20 courtrooms. At approximately 320,000 square feet, the facility is a far cry from the cramped conditions of the previous building, but space was still a concern for Bradford and the department’s property and evidence storage. The computers were only part of the problem—the department had been dealing with the lack of storage—and its repercussions—for many years.</p>



Property Officer, Durham County Sheriff

<h2>“The Storage Situation was a Nightmare”</h2>
<p>“The Sheriff hired me in 2004 to be the Crime Scene Investigator,” Bradford says, speaking about the previous building. “Shortly after, I was asked to be in charge of the Property and Evidence Unit—and the storage situation was a nightmare. It used to be if the Property Custodian wanted to get rid of a weapon, he’d just toss it in the room. All the guns were stacked on top of each other like Pixie Sticks. The evidence was piled—not in boxes, just piles on top of each other. It was like ”</p>
<p>The lack of space and organization was one thing—but Bradford says it also contributed to a fair share of dismissed cases. “The guys on patrol used to go in and ask for evidence, and the technicians would say, ‘I’ll get back to you’, and then the wouldn’t be able to find what the officers had asked for. Eventually, the cases would be dismissed due to a lack of evidence.”</p>
<p>Bradford wanted the property and evidence storage to be different under his watch—and he began by pulling everything in the room out and tracking them, one by one, on a spreadsheet. When the new building started to become a reality several years later, he knew it would give him and his team an opportunity to finally do things right. He remembered that the Records Department in the former Sheriff’s Office had utilized a compact mobile storage system for years, and as a result, was able to accommodate their current files and have the ability to plan for future growth. He wanted the same for his <a href="/public-safety/evidence-storage" aria-label="evidence storage solutions">long-term evidence storage</a>.</p>

<p>The Spacesaver-authorized distributor in North Carolina, had previously worked with a number of police departments and corrections facilities in the state—and knew exactly what Bradford was looking for. Working closely with him and his Property Room Manager, a powered compact mobile shelving unit was installed to organize the department’s 23,000 pieces of long-term evidence. The first carriage of the system is outfitted with <a href="/products/shelving/widespan-shelving" aria-label="widespan shelving product detail">widespan shelving</a> to accommodate bulky evidence packaging materials, with the remainder of the system relying on sturdy four-post shelving to store everything from banker’s boxes full of items to larger pieces such as televisions and electronics. The last carriage is reserved for the evidence of Durham’s homicide cases.</p>
<p>The Spacesaver-authorized distributor in North Carolina, had previously worked with a number of police departments and corrections facilities in the state—and knew exactly what Bradford was looking for. Working closely with him and his Property Room Manager, a powered compact mobile shelving unit was installed to organize the department’s 23,000 pieces of long-term evidence. The first carriage of the system is outfitted with <a href="/products/shelving/widespan-shelving" aria-label="widespan shelving product details">widespan shelving</a> to accommodate bulky evidence packaging materials, with the remainder of the system relying on sturdy four-post shelving to store everything from banker’s boxes full of items to larger pieces such as televisions and electronics. The last carriage is reserved for the evidence of Durham’s homicide cases.</p>
<p>Being able to see and visually track the evidence has been revolutionary for the department all on its own—but in Bradford’s eyes, the real benefit of the system is how it’s helped his office plan for the future, specifically in the integration of an evidence tracking system. “We could have never got to the point where we are today—an electronic barcode system for evidence tracking—without this system,” he says. “We put stickers on every piece of evidence, and shelving makes it possible to have a place for every piece of evidence, too.”</p>

<p>Another feature of the system is a simple one, but Bradford and his staff are grateful for it. “I really appreciate that the system is powered,” he says. “If you have your hands full of evidence, which we often do—it saves time and effort.” In addition, a safety system was installed in the <a href="/products/high-density-mobile-systems" aria-label="mobile storage system product details">mobile storage unit</a>. The system uses LED-infrared photo beams that shoot across the open aisle to protect people and materials left in the aisles. When the beam is interrupted, the shelves will not move. This security measure has proven to be instrumental when someone is already in the unit—or if there’s a box that just happens to be in the way.</p>


The current inventory of the Durham County Sheriff’s property and evidence storage room is 23,000. That equates to over 11 pieces of evidence for every person living in Durham County

<h2>Separate Weapons, Narcotics &; Off-Site Storage</h2>
<p>Durham’s Sheriff’s Office also has two separate locked rooms adjacent to the space for the general long-term property and evidence storage for weapons and narcotics evidence, respectively. For the weapons room, static <a href="/products/shelving/4-post-case-type-shelving" aria-label="4 post shelving product details">4-post shelving</a> units cover the perimeter, with the shelves sized to match the boxes Durham uses for pistol and long guns. “In terms of purging weapons, it’s difficult to know when we can get rid of them—so it was important for us to have a separate space to store them,” Bradford says. Next door to the weapons storage room, the narcotics room is outfitted with a smaller high-density mobile shelving system.</p>
<p>A 50’ x 60’ storage unit off the side of the Justice Center’s carport is outfitted with bulk shelving to keep large evidentiary items such as air conditioners and other electronics, as well as a <a href="/products/shelving/4-post-case-type-shelving" aria-label="4-post shelving product details">4-post shelving</a> unit with perforated doors for additional supply.</p>

The approximate size of the Durham County Public Safety Building is 320,000 SqFT. The facility houses the Durham County Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, and 20 courtrooms—and was built to LEED® Gold Standards.

<h2>Secure Armory Storage</h2>
<p>In addition to the evidence storage, another important facet of the new building was <a href="/products/weapon-gear-storage" aria-label="weapon shelving product details">secure armory storage</a>. A combination of <a href="/products/weapon-gear-storage/weapons-shelving" aria-label="weapon rack product details">weapons racks</a> and pistol racks used on four-post shelving created the ideal solution for the department. The depth of turnout gear storage was easily able to support all of the department’s active weapons—and in configuring the racks for two levels of storage, there was also enough room to store the department’s vintage collection of weapons.</p>
<p>The integrated storage solution has allowed Bradford and his staff to spend more time on other things—namely, investigating crimes. “As someone who is part of a small staff here, I double as a Crime Scene Investigator and Evidence Technician,” Bradford says, “So I see first-hand how an organized long-term evidence storage solution benefits the other side of things. It makes our jobs a lot easier—and a lot less time is wasted.”</p>

‘A testament to style and function’

Public Safety Storage Projects

Delivering Order for the Law

Designing an Off-site Evidence Storage Warehouse for Law Enforcement

Police Records Storage and Evidence Storage

A New Police Building with a Focus on Community

Improving Evidence Room Layout to Gain Accreditation

Secure Evidence Warehouse Design

Law Enforcement Facility Design

Off-Site Evidence Warehouse Keeps Evidence Organized & Secure

Skokie Police Department Boosts Morale with Uniform and Gear Lockers

Property and Evidence Storage Now Secure at Durham County Sheriff

Police Equipment Lockers Contribute to LEED Certification at Franklin PD

Evidence Storage Lockers Assist with Accreditation at Bensalem Police Department

Secure Police Storage at Aurora Police Department

Secure Corrections Facility Storage

Compact Crime Lab Storage Solves Space Issues for Illinois State Police

Evidence Preservation Meets Organization at DeKalb Police Department

Configurable Police Gear Lockers Create Comfort for Officers at Salisbury PD

Smart Inmate Property Bags Storage Eliminates Inefficiencies at East Mesa Reentry Facility

Crime Lab Storage Solved for Northeast Police Agency

Revamped Long-Term Evidence Shelving Creates Efficiency at Skokie Police Department

Temporary Evidence Storage a Long-Term Solution at Bensalem PD

Double Tier Lockers Conserve Space at Sunrise Police Department

Secure Storage Lockers Save Space at East Mesa Detention Center

Secure Locker Storage Increases Efficiency at Bensalem Police Department

Ventilated Gear Lockers Boost Morale at Franklin Police Department

New Inmate Clothing Storage Leads to Better Working Conditions at Guilford County Detention Center

New Inmate Property Storage Doubles Capacity at Colorado Detention Center

TIU - Custom Heavy-Duty Lockers Assist With Police Tactical Gear Storage